You have got to be kidding me
by beta-scud
Summary: The wormhole at the end of 'Kansas' takes Crichton and Moya to an entirely new galaxy. And where Crichton goes, Scorpius and trouble soon follow...
1. Not in Kansas anymore

This is a simple x-over fic between stargate (mainly sg, thus the category) and farscape. I do not own or am in any way relate to owners of any of those two franchises (MGM and JHC), this is a free work of fiction, no copyrights, bla bla bla. 

_Stargate: hopefully as of __ SGA__0__5x20 Finale_

_Farscape: just before the end of 4x12 Kansas, including some minor AU for Scorpy, NASA instead of IASA, etc..._

_chapter 1: Not in Kansas anymore._

** Earth orbit, 1986**

It came as no surprise that Pilot was reporting troubles. There were always troubles. This seemed to be some kind of natural law. Or maybe one of God's commandments. Thou shall not have peace. Yeah, that sounded just like it. Trouble and John Crighton - inseparable.

"Listen to me, Pilot" he said now "home on our signal and follow it through the wormhole. I will try to get us to some safe location..."

"John..." Aeryn tried to warn him, about the usual stuff. Memory stuff. He had the solution this time.

"There is no risk, Aeryn. The wormhole is stable this time and I know how to navigate it. We will be all right" he switched his attention to comm now "Pilot, are you ready? We will enter the wormhole. Follow our signal exactly!"

"Understood Commander" Pilot's voice was now neutral. Seems he have heard the exchange with Aeryn "I must warn that Moya cannot now detect the Command Carrier, as the star is reaching critical level. It will go supernova in 20 microts."

"All right, are you all ready? Aeryn?" A nod. "D'Argo?" A growl on the Luxan side. He's ready. "Chiana?" Now that the timer was running she nodded fast. Faster than usual that is. "Rygel?" Burped. Ready. "Granma?" As well. "All right gang, strap your belts and here we go!"

** Atlantis, present day**

"So" McKay started enthusiastically. As always. Zelenka was long past wondering about that. Science was fun, certainly, but there is just no way you should behave like a kid when you got down to it. Somehow McKay always seemed like it.

"What's that I hear about a nova?" Rodney finished, a big grin on his face.

"Well" Radek started slow. Better not to put too much gasoline into that fire. "You know I've put some time into this little side-project for General O'Neill. Deep space tracking of most spectacular stellar events. This is what seems to be brewing today."

He turned to the computer and pressed a button. The wall screen lit presenting the latest data about the star, as well as its current virtual representation. There was no way anybody could approach it - not without a gate nearby - and even then it would destroy everything nearby.

"You know what this means!?" McKay started again. Too much gas after all.

"Yes, Rodney."

"I mean this could be..."

"Yes, Rodney" he was not letting him start his speech about greatest breakthrough in the history of mankind. Not for the one hundred and seventh time. Radek was counting.

"Right, we need to..." here it goes again. This time Zelenka was ready.

"Already done. Any minute now" he tried to remain calm here. Just why McKay never could?

"What?! And you call me here this late. I could've missed it."

"Late?" Radek lost his temper now. "Late? I informed you two hours ago when I first found out about it! It is you, who couldn't have come for whatever reason" he calmed down again. "Anyway you didn't miss anything so you have nothing to fuss about. Just wait now."

This seemed to have calmed McKay. He sat down and watched. There was nothing to do now. The machines were recording everything and there was nothing that demanded human attention - the nova happened in milliseconds. Or microseconds. The point was - no one really knew, because last time it was close enough to watch, all humanity had was hand-held telescopes. Or was it earlier? He was not so sure now.

Zelenka and McKay watched the screen. Then they stared. It happened. The star went supernova and what was on the screen now was the gasses ejected at sub light speeds. Destructive, but thankfully this happened at the very age of the galaxy with no inhabited words nearby. No gates for that matter as well.

Then some readings started to appear... odd.

"Do you see that?" Zelenka asked, but McKay of course did. He was already into it, fervently working on the data, trying to get some more details. This really did seem odd. It reminded Radek of something he heard some time ago. He was not entirely sure. "Doesn't that look very much like..."

"Because it is one!" McKay screamed this time. Full panic mode. He turned on the radio. "Sheppard to the astro lab!" and then his panic went up "Woolsey to the astro lab!"

** Atlantis, astrophysics lab, few minutes later**

He didn't like it. Rodney calling him to the lab when something bad happened was normal. Well, not normal as in normal. But routine. Usual Pegasus stuff. But Rodney didn't really approve of Woolsey, not like he did of Carter or even Weir. Maybe it was the nerd-girl thing or maybe something else. It didn't matter now. Now something terrible must have happened. And John Sheppard certainly didn't like it.

He entered the rooms seconds after Woolsey and caught something that Woolsey was trying to say. Something about interrupting his work. It didn't matter. He stared at the wall screen. It seemed familiar.

"Rodney?" he tried to get it out of him the usual way.

"Yes, well, as I was trying to say, we have just observed a supernova power up this!" he pointed to the screen.

"And this is?" Woolsey didn't get it as well.

"A giant intergalactic wormhole! Someone just opened a supergate to Pegasus Galaxy!" Rodney screamed.

John felt stunned. Woolsey certainly seemed that way as well. This was very disturbing. Not only we now probably have an ultra advanced race in the Galaxy, most probably evil because only those seem to have a life in the universe, but Woolsey is behaving just like me, thought Sheppard.

Finally Woolsey broke the silence.

"Are you certain about this? Doctor Zelenka, do you agree?"

"Do you see this?!" McKay almost hit the boss with that. "There is no reason to doubt it! We now see that the wormhole will disengage in few minutes, as it has no constant power supply like black holes the Ori created for their Supergates. Still we cannot say if something hasn't come through and it could have been anything from a probe to an alien armada!"

"Can you determine it? What came through?" John interrupted.

"What do you think!? At this range? If I could track them there, it would be almost like tracking every ship in the Pegasus Galaxy, which even the Ancients couldn't do..."

"'Almost' Rodney?"

"Well it would be nearly impossible, but..."

"After lunch then?"

** Unknown location, Moya**

Moya felt surprisingly good after the voyage through the wormhole. All internal and exterior stimuli reaching Pilot were in their optimum. And yet... something was different. Or not...

"Commander Crighton" he had to make sure. "Where is this safe location we have arrived at?"

"We..." Crighton seemingly hesitated for a few seconds "There was some kind of interference. I do not know where we are."

As the screams of abuse aimed at Crighton came through the comm, Pilot continued to observe the Moya's surroundings. It certainly was disturbing...

"Pilot" this was D'Argo "we are approaching Moya and will be landing in a few microts. Can you determine where are we? My ship sensors seem to have gone to dren."

"I am aware of that, Ka D'Argo. It appears there was a recent supernova near the wormhole end point as well. All external readings were blinded immediately after exiting the wormhole, but Moya seems to be recovering now. The same may have influenced your ship. As to our locations, Moya does not recognize any of the visible systems..." he trailed off. This was really becoming quite disturbing.

"What is it, Pilot?" D'Argo demanded. He had to tell them - there was no escaping it.

"Deep space background seems to be different here. All far away points appear to be shifted. I would estimate we have traveled several million light cycles. This is most probably a different galaxy."

"Crichton!" he heard them all shout at the human at the same time as D'Argo's ship entered Moya. Now he would be able to keep visual contact if necessary.

Then Pilot spotted movement near the wormhole…

** Uncharted Territories, Peacekeeper Command Carrier**

"Sir!" one of the Lieutenants was visibly overeager. "The prowler has reappeared on the sensors and is requesting permission to land."

"Yes Lieutenant, I see that. Tell him to report directly to me after landing" Scorpius was angry. The effects of the supernova seem to have disrupted many of the ship systems and he was feeling vulnerable just sitting there. But he was excited as well.

He finally caught up with Crichton and his rogue Leviathan and they just opened a giant wormhole and escaped through it. Crichton was getting better at this wormhole stuff. Maybe it was time to insert a new neural clone into his brain. The new information may be worth it. On the other hand Scorpius now had enough head start to continue research himself. If the High Command was willing it to continue after so many fiascos, that is. But he understood that this wormhole was powered and stabilized by the supernova and it would close in few hundred microts with Crichton on the other side, wherever it was.

"Sir!" that was the scout prowler pilot that have gone to the other side and returned. He waited for Scorpius to acknowledge his arriving. He gave him a short nod and turned on the recorder. The crew had enough experience with him to understand what it meant.

"Sir!" the pilot started. He was visibly a bit shaken. "As requested I entered the anomaly and arrived at the other side after twenty seven microts of wormhole travel. On the other side another star must have just blown, because most of the sensors were scrambled. They did however record the Luxan ship landing on the rogue Leviathan. The Leviathan was immobile a few hundred metras from the exit of the wormhole. As planned I returned before they would be able to spot me. The wormhole travel was smooth and all systems were in the green."

"Interesting…" Scorpius started before he remembered something. "Thank you Ensign, you may leave now. Proceed to normal debriefing and medical tests."

The decision now was quite obvious, either he could stay here and observe the wormhole as it dies, and at the same time lose track of Crichton again, or he could follow him through the wormhole. Which seemed safe enough this time. The first was never an option really. He called the bridge and ordered the crew to get them through…

** Unknown location, Moya**

"… Moya has just detected a Peacekeeper Command Carrier emerging through the wormhole." Pilot was not so cool now. "Attempting to starburst… now."

And just before they left Crichton recovered. He said something that she couldn't really comprehend. Something like: "Welcome to Oz, Scorpy…"


	2. Over the Rainbow

_ chapter 2: Over the Rainbow. _

** Atlantis, Control Room**

"Doctor McKay, I understand you can appraise us of the current situation?" the weasel guy, what's his name, Weasley… Woolsey, that's it, had a very irritating matter of speech. For all Ronon could tell it was standard bureaucratic Earth dialect, but he just hated it. He had to translate, even if just for himself.

"Yea… what's up, out there?" he said, but felt it didn't sound right, somehow all the Earth humans around him expected something different in this sentence. Well, never mind.

"As I was trying to say, MISTER RABBIT" McKay almost shouted those two words, but Ronon still couldn't get it "I have realigned some of the long range sensor arrays and narrowed their beam, using an ingenious software that I, oh… designed, and now can roughly track any single system in Pegasus Galaxy in real time."

"Oh" now the former runner did get at least some of it. McKay wanted praise. "Good work" he gave him his bone.

"Well, thank you so much, now where was I… oh, yes, the point where I give you the impossible solution and you don't appreciate it."

"Doctor McKay, please…" that was the weasel guy again.

"Right, right… here goes…"

The main screen reformed and now showed a rough picture of a planetless star. Some additional markers indicated the… well, something about the star blowing up. And there was a circular location marked which was supposedly a stargate at some point. Only it was several hundred meters across, maybe several kilometers even. There was nothing else in the system.

"There is nothing there, Rodney" Sheppard sometimes got the stating-the-obvious role.

"Yes, Sherlock, that's probably because has been several hours now and if there was anything it probably already left. What interests me here is the lack of any gate-like structure."

"You are saying there was no wormhole there after all, doctor McKay?" said Weasley… Woolsey.

"Oh, there was definitely a large wormhole there, we can see the remains of the horizon wave even now. Look here… here… and here…"

"So how is that possible, doctor, did someone disassemble the gate?"

"No, you see, this is the good part – there was never any gate. It was a stable wormhole without a supporting horizon stabilizer like the ones present in the stargates. It was something we have never seen before. Not even the Ancients thought this possible."

"So… Very advanced aliens?" Sheppard was a bit shaken now. Ronon could understand why. They had for all he could tell beaten the Wraith, the Replicators and Michael's hybrids. For all_ he_ could tell Earth defeated several other advanced races in few last years. Everybody certainly hoped for some reprieve. Well, of course not Ronon, but everybody else probably did.

"Yes"

"Can you track them?"

"Well, that's what I indented to do. Now let's see…"

McKay started typing on the keyboard furiously. The screen flickered and showed another star… system. There was a lone planet there. No sign of any ships. McKay said "Nothing here" and typed some more. Screen changed again. And again. And again…

And then there was something different. It looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't point it. It was not the shape, so rough it barely seemed real. It was some of the readings… he seen them before. And obviously so did McKay.

"Oy" was all the scientist managed to say now.

"What is it?" did everybody in the room say it? Certainly looked that way.

"As far as I can tell at this distance the ship… This ship… It is of biological origin! Just like the hive ships!"

** Atlantis, Briefing Room**

"Deadalus is already on its way and it will be here in a few days, so we will have some way to see up close what's going on. And in the meanwhile if the ship jumps to a system with a gate, we will take a Jumper and see it ourselves. Mr. Woolsey?" he said without much hope. The new leader of the expedition was not a man to take unnecessary risks. Sometimes. Oh, he could convince Woolsey if it was really necessary, but in this case he didn't think so. The ship activity didn't fit any type of invasion. They took a better look at the visited systems – two so far, and there was nothing new in them. The ship has just gone through. Quite slow at that. It did arrive in strange circumstances – or maybe it didn't arrive but was already here and they just spotted it and assumed it had arrived from some other galaxy – but it was not necessarily bad. Not in the way Wraith had been once. Not now when for some time already they have had their own 'queen' – Teyla – and stuff. John Sheppard smiled and awaited Woolsey's answer.

"Yes, I would agree with you here. A stealth recon may be a good idea at this point" said Woolsey, really surprising John. It was not as safe as one would have expected of the guy. "But in the meantime I would like to request Earth to send us Apollo as a backup, just in case. We can use it as well for the coming equipment replacement, so there should be no problem with this request."

After all it seemed that Woolsey did play at safe. And planed ahead to get some new suits. The rumor has spread around and everybody now knew that one Richard Woolsey felt the most comfortable in one of his suits. At least he seemed to be getting a hang on how they did things in Pegasus.

He was prepared to comment on the plan, when the screen McKay brought lit up. The ship left. They all waited until doctor Zelenka – or maybe Chuck? Whoever was it that got to the keyboard in the control room first – found it again by looking through some nearby systems. And then they found it again in yet another barren system a few light years farther.

"Seems like the operational range of their hyperspace engines in quite limited. In fact it is much worse than even the Wraith drives. Doesn't look so bad" said Rodney McKay.

"They may be just fooling around" Ronon responded sparking some laughter around the room. He still didn't get some of Earth expressions and he just stepped into another one today. John had to intervene at this point or they would just ignore him after that. They usually did.

"Ronon may be right. They might suspect they're being observed and they're playing it low profile. Going slow."

"Or they may not. So far they jumped to three new systems and they're not even in the same line. They probably don't know where to go." It was McKay again.

"There may be some hidden reason for these jumps. Maybe they are searching for something." It was the first Teyla has spoken at this meeting. Interesting idea, but it didn't look like it to John. It was more of a random jumps at random intervals… Or were they random?

"McKay, can you determine if there's a relation between each of this ships jumps and the time it spends between them?" he asked.

"You mean, like the speed of the thing? Some kind of normal space recharging of the engines? Lets see…" McKay started typing on his tablet and only after a few seconds came back to the land of the living. "You were right. It jumps regularly, moving at about 1 light year per hour. Hardly a speed to travel between stars – no wonder they developed some kind of wormhole technology."

"Which means this is not a threat and we may focus on different tasks now. Please keep in mind that I will have someone monitoring the situation at all times and if anything changes or the ship comes to a vicinity of a gate, we will take proper actions. For now, this will be all" and Woolsey ended the meeting.

** Unknown location, Peacekeeper Command Carrier, few days later**

Scorpius stared at the interstellar void as his ship followed Crichton's Leviathan through these new stars. Peacekeeper High Command was never really interested in distant galaxies, as it had much of its own unconquered and a journey of few hundreds of years was totally beyond its imagination. But Scorpius was a scientist as well as a commander and followed even some obscure researchers. Now he didn't feel lost, not entirely. For all he could tell this was a galaxy very close to his and even if journey with just the Hetch drive would take too long, he now knew the way to get home faster.

Energy was the ultimate secret of the wormholes. You had to pump loads of energy to get it stable and if you wanted to go further, you just had to pump in some more energy. A supernova explosion was enough to get them to another galaxy and while he did not have these levels of power on his ship, he probably could find a way to blow up another sun if necessary. Or he might just find Crichton and extract what little knowledge there was left of intergalactic wormhole travel.

He looked at the command screen in his room – they were approaching the Leviathan again, in another dead star system. So far this galaxy was bare of any life. He waited for a few minutes and then, as usually, the Leviathan starburst away once it detected the command carrier. This time it certainly did it slower… yes, it looked like it was becoming tired of constant run. A few more stars and Crichton will be captured and the work on going home may continue. Now, just to detect the Leviathans current location and get there…

** Unknown location, Moya, several days later**

"It is all Crichton's fault, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for his wormholes and Scorpius and… and now the food is running low and there are no inhibited systems here…"

Rygel was ranting even worse than usually, but they didn't have anything better to do, so they listened. Not that he was wrong, as he was obviously right. They were lost, the supplies were running low, and he just didn't have any idea how to get home. Well, he supposed that if he found a wormhole he could use one, but it just didn't seem like there were any here. He didn't smell them, and his nose was already accustomed to the vibration, so he would. He would, if there were…

"The Command Carrier has again caught up with us" Pilot interrupted his train of thought. "Starburst in thirty microts… twenty… ten… starburst."

The sensation was nothing different than usual. In fact, he was already getting bored with it. And the constant running. No wonder Sparky was pissed…

Then the Pilot appeared on the screen again. This was different.

"It appear that the system we arrived in has once been inhabited. The first planet has minimal atmosphere, plant life and occasional structures. No animal or intelligent life detected from this range…" Pilot was saying, constantly interrupted by Rygel's "Food" once he mentioned plants. There was no other thing to do now, than go there and check it out.

"D'Argo, let's grab your ride and hit the road" he said. "Who knows, maybe there are old playboy magazines there!" Of course they wouldn't understand that, but he just had to say it…


	3. Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly

_ chapter 3: Somewhere, over the rainbow, bluebirds fly. _

** Unknown location, D'Argo's ship, Moya-bound**

"Well, that was a total butt!"

"Bust, D'Argo, a total bust!" Crichton said. "And yes, you are right I think. Still it was kind of cool, especially the…"

"Food" Rygel interrupted. As much as D'Argo cared, this was only a little more sensible than what Crichton had in mind. Speaking of which...

"I do not want to hear anything about visiting abandoned ruins again" he said "and I think everybody here will agree, no more ruins." A murmur of agreement.

"But at least we learned a few important things here" Crichton just wouldn't let it go. "First, we know that these were Buck Rogers aliens. Second, these were not space critters. Third, these were not godlike aliens. Oh, we may find them in this galaxy, I do not doubt, but so far it seems to me that we are lucky. And that's bad, because soon enough something is going to go wrong, you just…"

"Excuse me, Commander Crichton" thankfully the Pilot interrupted the Erpmans rant. Not that he was fully wrong, that was surely a biped species that lived here once and that was all right, but if he was to start… ranting again D'Argo was sure he would just… silence him somehow.

"Yes, what is it, Pilot?" the Erpman asked.

"There seem to have been a slight disturbance in this systems gravitational field. Neither Moya nor me could detect its source, but we are fairly sure it was something similar to a wormhole…"

"Olly wolly!" Crichton exclaimed. Probably yet another of his sayings that the translator microbes wouldn't get. "D'Argo, can we go a little faster? I would really like to check this up with the pilot."

"I am going as fast as I can and your pleads won't change it. Besides, we are almost there." Technically that wasn't a lie, as in few moments they really were onboard. And in another few everything will just calm down…

"Excuse me again" the Pilot appeared in the Hangar Bay screen. "We are now being scanned by a cloaked vessel…"

** M89-****A3X, Puddlejumper-14**

Once through the stargate, they checked the scanners again and located the alien ship. Then Sheppard cloaked the jumper and flew in its direction. Now, as they were approaching it, Rodney McKay was feeling excited again. And a bit afraid. The thing was huge, about six hundred meters long, shaped like a giant whale, or maybe – judging by the protrusions on one side of it – a squid. The three… well, protrusions were distinctly shaped and there was not much doubt they were somehow related to the ships hiperdrive. Once they approach they would be able to take much more precise readings and…

"Oh my!" McKay exclaimed.

"What is it, Rodney?" Sheppard immediately cut in sensing trouble. "What wrong?"

"Nothing really, it's just, well, the wraith ships are generally a chitinous polymer growth of an organic origin, like… " he noticed they weren't really following him now. "Like a bug's armor. We have seen it some months ago when Jennifer got infected and a ship started growing from here and then throughout the city. Now then, this ship may appear similar from afar, because it's hull is also some kind of chitin based polymer and the engine part is mostly mechanical, but the rest of the ship positively registers on a life signs detector…"

"This only means there are people onboard" Sheppard retorted.

"No, it would look differently, the life signs would be diffused, but here the whole ship is one large… blip. This ship is alive!"

"So you are saying we are being invaded by a giant intergalactic whale?"

"Well, yes."

"Then please explain to me that!" he pointed to a small craft that was fast approaching the… larger ship. It was definitely of an unknown design. As it came near a… landing bay opened on the living vessel and the small shuttle flew in and landed. "Is it a ship or a living thing after all?"

"I don't think even the Ancestors could have done it" Teyla cut in.

"Well, they didn't finish the wormhole drive and we did" Rodney had an answer at least to that.

"Once" the ape man said.

"Yeah, once, but we did it and…"

"Zelenka did" the caveman was getting seriously obnoxious.

"Yes, but that's beside the point! Lets just continue the scan, alright?!" the guy could really get to Rodney and he didn't like it. Just like the situation with Jennifer, unbearable. "Oh. But that would explain how they got here. Some kind of a wormhole drive, but due to a possible power source inefficiency they had to resort to supernovas as temporary energy burst. Still, to create supernovae like that…"

"Whatever" Sheppard interrupted his train of though. And maybe a little speech as well. "Can we just stick to scanning now?"

** Unknown location, Moya**

"What are they doing now?"

"Unfortunately, I cannot tell."

"Can you guess?"

"No, I can only tell they're still scanning us."

"So where are they?"

"I… am not entirely sure, Commander" the Pilot was really negative today. "They appear to be going forward along Moya's right side, but I cannot pinpoint the location."

"Can we hail them or something?" he was trying a different angle now.

"Moya and I have tried, but there were no response on any frequency."

"Well then… still cannot guess even their size?"

"No, but the cloaked craft is much smaller than Moya."

_Think, Crichton, think_ Harvey entered the conversation. _What could this mean, are there evil bad aliens out there? Or is it the United Federation of Planets checking you out?_ Which gave John an idea on what was going on…

"They don't know what to think of us!" he said. "We appeared unexpectedly in their galaxy and they want to check us out!"

** M89-A3X, Puddlejumper-14**

The… the alien ship was totally weaponless, but still massive and very similar to wraith ships. It was more or less alive and it was still used to carry smaller crafts like the one they were sitting in. It certainly was intriguing in many aspects and… yes, slightly, but still, there was something tickling in the back of Teyla's mind about it. Somehow it was yet more like the wraith ships than it appeared. She couldn't establish a connection with any mind there, but the tick was there. And it was surely not a totally evil like the wraith were. Teyla was puzzled.

"You know, when you look at it from a certain perspective, it is really amazing" doctor McKay became very enthusiastic once they learned the living ship possessed no weapons. "This ship must a probe of some kind, maybe a semi-automated exploration vessel, semi- of course as it is living and maybe even sentient itself and has some additional outside probing capabilities and…" Teyla switched off for a while here as she couldn't really get it. Nobody in the team really could and everybody did switch off, but it didn't really faze doctor McKay. He didn't even notice. After a while Teyla started to understand him again: "… so this must be a pretty advanced culture and most probably even a peaceful one to send just a probe, even if it is a huge probe."

"Still I am glad we did put on that little tracking device." John cut in when Rodney was taking a breath. "I feel much more… peaceful with it myself."

She recalled the giant ship again. It was quite similar to giant sea creatures that lived on many planets around the galaxy, but instead of being bluish-black it was brownish-gold. With a slight red tint, maybe. The texture reminded her somewhat of reptile scales. What more… there were the three appendices at one side of the ship, or creature, but otherwise nothing else protruded from it. But there were some additional markings… scars?

"It was born in space" she said to her team.

"What?" Ronon suddenly woke up and asked.

"It was not build nor launched from any planet. It was captured and crewed in space. And then it escaped."

"How do you know that?" Rodney was really interested now.

"There was a scar across the creature's side. Some kind of a collar was once put there."

"So you are saying creatures like this live in the wild?" even Ronon was shocked now. And no wonder, if you imagined the size of the ship…

As they approached the Stargate, further dwelling on the subject was temporarily halted and once Rodney dialed, John flew the ship into the swirling whirlpool of the wormhole that never ceased to fascinate her. Not since her father first showed it to her on one of the Athosian trade trips. And then, once again, she disintegrated and the puddlejumper arrived in Atlantis.

** Unknown location, ****D'Argo's ship, approaching the planet orbit**

Now John Crichton was really thrilled. The aliens that scanned them earlier from a cloaked vessel seem to have appeared just after a nearby wormhole opened… and were gone just before another one happened. This had to be connected. They had to have come and gone through the wormhole. Fascinating! A wormhole traveling civilization, here, in the other galaxy! Even Harvey stirred and awaited an explanation.

Once they had the clue where the wormhole may have happened, they entered D'Argo's ship once again and flew there. Here. In orbit of the planet. The fact that the second wormhole opened near the place the first one did, or maybe even in the exact same place, was at the same time fascinating, terrifying and the final clue to led to this locations discovery. And now they were arriving.

John saw a small speck, some kind of object in orbit around the planet.

"Aeryn" he asked. "Can you see that?"

"Yes, it is some kind of a ring."

"How can you tell, oh, wait, right, superior Sebecean sight. Still… D'Argo, is this the place?"

"Near as can tell, yes."

Well, this was certainly strange. They have now stopped a few hundred meters from the… the ring. There was nothing else around, but about that John was not surprised. What was here that shouldn't was the damned ring. What the hell was that?

"Can we get near that thing D'Argo? It does not fit here."

_Why John, what's wrong?_ Harvey asked in his mind. The answer was simple, it was probably not a part of a starship and certainly not a natural phenomenon. And somehow John could smell a wormhole just around the thing.

Once they got nearer he could see more details, it was certainly mechanical, with symbols carved round its circumference in square fields and triangular protrusions on the outside. Additionally, there were…

"D'Argo, can you push it a little bit?"

"What?!" the Luxan shouted. "What do you think this is? A pushing craft?"

"If you say so. And I always thought it was a Luxan pleasure craft."

"Luk ki VaIsh, human! Here's your push!"

Once D'Argo finally did move the strange ring, they backed off and observed. And then, just as John thought, the small engines – for they WERE engines – fired and moved the ring back to its original position. Fascinating! This was here for a reason and John Crichton intended to find out what it was!_and having an idea for it..._


	4. It is not Door to Heaven

** Authours note:** I am lying foundations for future plots here so it is both shorter and duller. But you can guess where we will go from now and get ready for a nice ride... Next update when I gather enough words and episodes for another individual part, so it may take a while. More so since I am finally starting to write down my Master's. But two months till the next update at the outside, mind you... And sorry for any language mishaps, I am not a native English speaker (or writer)...

* * *

_chapter 4: It's not "Door to Heaven"…_

** Atlantis**

John was staring at the endless ocean, supporting the railing in the very same place Elizabeth always did. The waves rolled slowly crashing against the city's piers and he remembered how he flew the city back from Earth, through the intergalactic void, two galaxies, and then down to the same planet they started from to rescue his home planet. He smiled. All the 304s were now repaired and Deadalus was now a day away from Atlantis. And Apollo just ten days behind. And just in case they could always recall the other three Earth ships, this being an IOA operation and not an American one.

"Hello, John" he heard a voice from the doors. Before he turned and saw that it was Teyla, as the voice already suggested, she asked "Am I not disturbing you?"

"No, not at all" he replied. "I was just woolgathering…"

"About?"

"Well, home, stars, alien invaders from other galaxies, price of beer and burgers. Anything that may be on one's mind, really."

"So who do you think they are?"

"Huh" John didn't get that one.

"The invaders you mentioned. Who are they?"

"Well, your guess is as good as mine, but I heard Rodney had something new about it."

** Unknown location, Moya**

John Crichton was stuck. He looked at the metal ring and decided to yet again begin from scratch. Well, almost from scratch. One thing was sure – this device was somehow linked to wormholes.

All right, so it was about 22 feet in diameter, enough to get a small craft through, not anything they got here but a smaller thing – sure. It was made of metal and was highly inductive. All right, so it was activated by some means of electric interference. But what would be the key…

There were some kind of symbols around it – thirty six to be exact. Those were dots connected by lines, say a small graph or something. There were also nine triangular, well, markers around the circumference and of course the three stabilizing engines that deactivated once in the oxygen atmosphere of Moya. He considered the symbols – they were probably some kind of a message or information. This is a wormhole device, or something like that. The triangular things were probably more important – the electrical interference probably triggered some kind of response in those. And the intricate electronics needed to open and maintain the wormhole were probably inside the thing itself.

"How is it going?" Aeryn entered and asked.

"Well, not really, you know. This stuff is more advanced than what we encountered before and it doesn't really fit the things I know. The theory…" he stopped "Oh, never mind. How does it go outside?"

"This new system is as barren as the ones we visited so far…"

"Except the last one, of course" he cut in.

"Yes, of course. But we couldn't have stayed there."

"I know, I know, Scorpius, the wolf is still in pur-… suit." He paused, a sudden thought occurring to him.

"What?"

"Oh, just a random thought. You know, you – Peacekeepers – do not really innovate much, do you?"

"Well, no, our technology works great, so there is no need for it."

"Yes, and that's why you have Scorpius to do your research for you. And then there are thing like this which are… Do you know of the Moore's law? Oh, of course you wouldn't call it that. Well, there is this thing on Earth, about computers, observed by Moore years ago. The processing power of computers doubles every two years, and the price of them falls by half in the same time. Today, on Earth, my module is probably obsolete…"

"Of course it is, it is junk."

To this he could only grunt, so he got back to his work. After all he had a new idea about the thing…

** Unknown location, Scorpius' Command Carrier**

Scorpius was looking through the rudimentary stellar charts they compiled so far. They were still in pursuit of the rogue Leviathan and have visited over twenty star systems so far. Some of them were quite… interesting, he had to admit. Like the nuked one. Yes, that was certainly worth seeing. A lone planet in primeval condition, otherwise untouched by for the single large, and quite fresh, nuclear crater. There was really no other reason for it than for a settlement, a settlement of sentient beings, or maybe a military base, to be located there. Which of course meant that there were some sentient races in this galaxy, that a state of war existed between them, and that they had both space and nuclear technology. Which lead to a conclusion that some additional technology may yet be acquired here someday. From one side of the conflict, or the other…

** Todd's hive ship, in orbit around an Alliance feeding world**

They've picked up a strange signal a few days ago and were intrigued by its origin. A cruiser has been dispatched to investigate. The outer edge of the galaxy was far away and the time to reach it would be immense. But it was necessary. Something new was needed in the conflict between Wraith and Atlantis, or the Wraith would lose. The thoughts of an alliance were now gone, along with the one nicknamed Todd by the enemy. And any thought of simple feeding was clouded by the fact that the people of Earth did not approve, and did everything they could to stop it. Changing Wraith into human, or changing feeding habits, or… the list was immense. They felt they would be defeated if nothing were to change…

** Unknown location, Moya**

Once they were back in normal space, after yet another starburst run from the pursuing Command Carrier, the symbols and the triangles on the ring glowed for a little while. And then Crichton finally grasped what they were all about – those were coordinates in space and they had to be somehow selected for the wormhole to be established. So the whole exterior of the thing was a simple user interface, like a telephone dial, and was not related to the actual wormhole physics. Which meant it was not his area of study, but then – it would probably not be so complicated as the physics there. Now then, how to approach the problem…

If those were coordinates and they were used to somehow navigate the wormhole, then there needed to be a given set of them. Four, a bet as good as any other, was the number he would have chosen – three coordinates for location and fourth for time. This way he could have gotten wherever he wanted – if the coordinates were precise enough, that is.

But of course the time traveling part of a wormhole was not so obvious, so if the race that build that... ring, didn't know about it, they may not have included it in their calculations. So the spacial coordinates were surely there, a code of three symbols to indicate a simple point in space.

Or were there? With less than forty symbols, the resolution for such a grid would not be large enough, or precise enough, to pinpoint a planet, or even a star system. Then, there would have to be additional coordinates, four or five if three were to indicate location, and one or two – the general area. Or six, if the point was located by lines instead of points for coordinates. Or… no, this line of thought would lead him nowhere…

Right, so the symbols… if you looked at it correctly, the symbols could be constellations. And constellations of course would mean the points in space more so than points in time. So scrap one hypothesis there.

He would have to consult the pilot about the constellations hypothesis, but this was a far shot at best. Constellations changed and they were the same only in same time and space. Like the constellations on Earth… Earth…

** Los Angeles****, Earth**

Douglas Knox was driving in heavy traffic to his house on the outskirts of LA. He was working in an R&D department of a large aerospace company and was returning home from another meeting with some guys from the military. Yet again they were babbling about space efficient missiles and DK had no idea what those were needed for. Shooting down Chinese satellites? No way, the economic ties bounding the nations were so tight, a war was not likely now or in the foreseeable future. Maybe the military was just being paranoid. That wouldn't be the first time.

He remembered how, after his friend John had gone missing in space, there were this guys from the Air Force asking questions and looking everywhere. Just like the NASA and Congress weren't poking enough. Who the hell needed Air Force in the space anyway. And now those guys from Washington and Cheyenne Mountain and god knows where…

DK left the highway and continued his train of thought as the things settled down on the suburb streets. Come to think of it, the military paranoia was not a new thing. It started somehow during the mid-nineties, a few years after the fall of communism and a few before the war on terror. Maybe they were just bored then? He remembered how much trouble there was to get the Farscape One off the ground and into the shuttle. Hell, today they totally scrapped those spaceships and were going honking in the old Russian Soyuzes. This really made no sense for Douglas as the shuttles were late seventies tech and the Russian crap was even older. Well, in basic design of course. The current parts were probably much more developed and… Another thing struck his mind then – why was the international space station project aborted a few years ago. The official statement was that it was to cut the budget and move the funds to more pressing matters… like getting the boys killed in Iraq. The rumor mill had it the other way – the budget was diverted to the military, but not the land forces in the Middle East, but the fucking aircraft carriers or some other heavy shit of all things. Some even said…

Douglas Knox arrived at home just then and diverted his thoughts to his wife and kids. He had more important things to ask himself than the US military budget…


	5. He who does not play dice with the unive

** Author's Note:** just as a reminder, I do not hold any right's to Stargate or Farscape franchise's and this story is a free work of fiction. This last update took me a while, as my masters is taking more time than I thought (and no, I can't cut down on TV series or PC games, so FanFiction must suffer).

* * *

_chapter 5: He, who does not play dice with the universe._

** Unknown location, Moya, Pilot's den**

When they arrived in this star system, it didn't look anything out of the ordinary. Ordinary being defined as locations visited so far in this galaxy. It happened not to be so. There was no actual radio chatter or other sign of space faring or even industrialized civilization, but intelligent life was obviously located on the second planet.

Lights. Camp fires. Fire, an obvious sign of intelligent, land-based, non-photosynthesizing life. Take a look at any planet's dark side from up in the space and it will be obvious if there is this kind of life on the surface, and if there is, just how advanced it is. Some worlds in the Nebari space were said to be entirely lightened. Even Commander Crichton said about his world, that it was ever more lightened – and in some places you couldn't identify city borders in the glow. And here, here it was camp fires. Lights.

Pilot turned to more interesting matter now. The crew has gone down and they would eventually check what was going on down there. The matter up here was entirely different. It was quick to discover that this galaxy was a neighbor of the one they left. But there was something else…

Leviathans lived with an internal chronometer. A rhythm of cyclic deep space pulses, the pulse of the universe itself, helped to synchronize those. Every 27.11304 microts a synchronization would occur and each one a fraction of percent less powerful. At first Pilot was not sure what it meant when the pulses where not coming at the proper moments, but now… He was quite certain Moya has come a few years into the future. It was… disturbing.

** Unknown planet**

As he looked through the glass (or at least he thought of it as glass) window, he saw the green forest rushing up to meet them. On closer look the trees were so much earth-like, that even Harvey stirred in his mind. It really reminded him of home… The true home, as it was when he left, not the fake one he visited lately. He remembered how once he had gone into some great Canadian forests with his father. They slept in a log cabin, near a lake…

And suddenly they were landing and John Crichton had to stop daydreaming. They landed on a small clearing and just nearby he could see the settlement. It was primitive, he had to admit it. And yet there were no signs of other intelligent life on the planet. Those guys must have come from space – they couldn't have evolved here. Maybe they crash-landed here years ago. Or generations ago. But they couldn't have come from this place. This so-much Earthlike planet.

They disembarked and started towards the building. Those were certainly looking like his log cabin…

"_And guess what, maybe it__ is Canada"_ Harvey said in John's mind. He was sitting in front of a cabin, fishing in the lake by which it was built.

"_Shut the hell up Harvey, __this looks more like Minnesota…"_ Crichton had to force him out for the time being. But he knew that the neural clone would be observing everything.

People started emerging from the buildings, gathering and looking their way. They were… human! Or Sabacean at the worst! They looked just like John Crichton and this was impossible. Impossible.

Still, they were now close enough to hear the murmur of the voices and had to do something. The others looked equally stunned, so he decided to start the conversation.

"Howdy, folks" John said, not really hoping for any result.

"Hello strangers" a man answered, stepping forward. The language sounded human, not Sabacean. And he understood it. They all did.

"Wait…" this gave Crichton a pause "you understand what I am saying?"

** Atlantis, several months ago**

"Hey, Rodney" Sheppard appeared in the doorway "are you ready yet?"

"Just a moment, let me just…" he answered clicking enter.

"We don't have a moment."

"I'm done, done. And coming…" he could not really understand the fuss about yet another stupid exploratory mission to a planet devoid of intelligent life. Now, what he was working on, was probably going to change a few things back home. Adapting one of Ancients' Stargate bacteria…

"Doctor McKay, I see you have decided to join us after all." And that was Woolsey, the new head guy. From IOA itself. And if that wasn't creepy enough, he wore suits for fun! Not for a life of himself could Rodney figure… But Woolsey was not over: "I hope the language vector bacteria research has been finalized on your part?"

"Yes, I've just added it to our next data burst."

"Good. Now, I don't want to hear anything about flying monkeys again, is that understood?"

** Earth, two weeks ago**

Douglas was just browsing the science portal for articles about artificial intelligence language grounding for robotics, when a topic on the previous page really hit him. He clicked on the back button and took another look. There it was, genetics really, but probably an interesting thing nonetheless. He opened it and started reading…

Upon finishing, he was really shocked. He did not really think such a thing would be even possible, but there it was. A bacterial infection that translated languages for its host. And it was supposed to have actually been tested on people. And worked.

Truly amazing what modern science had accomplished lately. Language bugs, plasma guns, holographic images… Prototypes, mostly, but… Amazing…

** Unknown planet, now**

"Uhm… " John grunted. "So let me get that straight – you did not crash here?"

"No."

"And yet you are not originally from this planet?"

"No."

"You were seeking shelter here?"

"Yes, from the Wraith" the villager chief finally said more than just a single word.

"And those Wraith are?" John insisted.

"You do not know what the Wraith are? Where exactly do you come from strangers?"

"Well, from far, far away and…"

"You certainly must be lucky not to have Wraith there. Otherwise they wouldn't let you come in this… ship of yours. Only people of Atlantis are powerful enough not to be culled and…"

"Wait, wait!" the Erpman exclaimed. Something did set him off balance. Something important, it looked like. "What do you mean by Atlantis?"

"Why, the city of the Ancestors" the local explained as if it were obvious. Well, maybe it was, around this parts. "Did you not know of it?"

"Well, I have heard the name, a long time ago, far from here. I just never thought it was… real."

"Oh, it certainly is. When the Ancestors left many generations before, the city was lost and almost forgotten. But not long ago the city became known again and helped us in the struggle against the Wraith. Now…"

"Uh, wait, wait again. You did say that the Wraith were, more or less, going around in ships. Does Atlantis have ships as well?"

"Certainly, they do."

"And they moved you guys here?"

"No, we came… what is that sound?" the villager asked, interrupted by the beeping sound from the ship. D'Argo rushed to check it…

"It's the Pilot!" he yelled from inside. "We must go, Scorpius is almost here!"

** Scorpius Command Carrier**

Scorpius looked down on the tactical screen in his chamber. The rogue Leviathan has escaped again. But no matter. The Peacekeeper Carrier was maybe slower, but in the long run it would catch up. Already the escapees were taking longer to spot him and the gap was closing.

And now the planet. Interesting in itself. An encampment has been spotted on the surface and Scorpius has sent a Marauder down to investigate. No signs of advanced civilization, but intelligent life – definitely. In fact he was now awaiting the return of the Marauder…

The intercom crackled.

"We have acquired several locals. They're Sebacean!" the lieutenant sent down could not keep fully professional with that news. Scorpius felt surprise himself, but he did not fully sympathize. Duty in such matters came first. "The rest have retreated through some kind of transportation device, a ring shaped structure. We were not able to follow them." Now Scorpius became interested. That was an important development. He wondered if Crichton had anything to do with it.

"Change of orders" he declared to his command crew. "I am coming down. Prepare additional soldiers and technician to accompany me. And let the interrogators know they will be coming down as well."

** Unknown planet, few minutes later**

Scorpius looked around from the Marauder hatch - trees were everywhere. He hated trees. If it were only possible he would nuke the planet to get rid of them. But there were not enough weapons in his arsenal so he decided to skip on that. He stepped down and proceeded to the settlement.

It was primitive and ugly. Wooden of course. Disgusting. But not far away stood a metal ring-like device, obviously of some technical purpose. From what he heard, he would guess it was some kind of portal that allowed long range transportation. There was no other structure like this on the planet – he made sure before coming down. A smaller domed device was located just in front of the ring. It was of the same design and looked like a control panel. He would have to investigate…

… But first, the prisoners. He approached the place, where soldiers were keeping them. They certainly looked Sabacean. Still, Scorpius was not entirely sure. They may have in fact just be humans, like Crichton. It was already unlikely to find two nearly identical races in the universe. The odds against three were astronomical indeed.

"Do they understand us, private?" Scorpius asked a soldier on post near the prisoners.

"Uhm" the young man stuttered before answering: "Yes, sir. I am given to understand that they were injected with translation microbes at birth."

"Splendid" half-scarran's voice was dry. He turned to the three men and one woman tied together. "Who will speak for you? Or shall I make my own arrangements to this purpose?"

The prisoners looked at each other, visibly scared. They must have guessed correctly, just what was implied in that question. This argued that they were after all Sabacean and…

"I…" one of them decided to talk. "I will speak for us. We have no secrets to keep."

"Splendid indeed" Scorpius repeated. He proceeded to ask the most important question "You may begin with telling me everything you know about the portal device."

"The… portal device?" the prisoner didn't seem to understand. Scorpius clarified, irritated:

"The ring your people used to escape."

"Oh, you mean the Ring of the Ancestors?" Scorpius could easily hear the capital letters falling in their place. He nodded, hoping this gesture would be understood. It should – those were probably Sabaceans after all. It was. He listened for some time. Then ordered additional squads from the Command Carrier. Then listened some more…

* * *

**Next on**: we will be catching "the 7:15 to enlightenment"


	6. The 7:15 to enlightenment

** Author's note:** finished this one a little bit faster than expected. Enjoy!

* * *

_chapter 6: the 7:15 to enlightenment_

** Deadalus, in hyperspace**

Steven Caldwell stared on the Atlantis' planet from his seat onboard the Deadalus. He was waiting to launch the battlecruiser on one of those crazy missions the expedition down there were so good at coming up with. Thankfully they were not sending their alpha team with him this time, just a few other guys Steven didn't know much about.

The circumstances this time were not all that peculiar, not considering the last time. Then the Wraith had come in possession of a ZPM device and the coordinates for Earth, and were on their way to destroy the planet. Now… Now it was just a case of investigating a strange ship roaming the edges of this galaxy. A ship that has supposedly got here by some way of wormhole travel, but in itself didn't look threatening or even very advanced. Just another day at the office then…

"Sir?" the bridge communications officer asked for his attention.

"Yes, what is it, captain?" he asked the young man.

"Doctor Zelenka has just informed me that they are now finished in the engineering. The checks confirm we have a stable link to the tracking facility in Atlantis."

"All right, thank you" Caldwell looked back at the main controls. Every system was now in green and ready. "Start final launch preparations" he said…

** Unknown location, Moya**

John Crichton once again looked at the strange metallic ring, that they taken to one of Moya's larger compartments. There was one just like it on the planet. Which meant what? By John's guess, it would mean that the people that got there, used the… thing. The Gate, for lack of better term. They said they didn't come by ship so it was the only explanation left. But how would it help here?

The device couldn't be much of a power drain, not with the civilization they met down there. The power source would have to be internal then. Same for the space Gate they picked up…

There was something else about the device on the planet. There was this… panel, located near it. It was made of more or less the same material, and had a similar design. And Keys. Symbols. Roughly same symbols as the Gate, and a big blue button. Enter, by John's guess.

So maybe after all the power and control was not entirely internal. If that were the case, the ground based Gate would be powered and controlled by the… Control Device, and the space one by… what? The stabilizing engines maybe? In terms of size they didn't look any larger than the CD on the planet, so maybe that was the case.

John Crichton took the Leviathan standard tool set, which he still found a bit fancy, and approached one of the Gate's external protrusions. He tried to open one, or at least detach it from the Gate itself. If there were any kind of connection…

No tool he had at his disposal was able to help him and he soon got frustrated. That was discouraging. He sat back and fumed, staring at the gate. _I spend too much time here, this is really getting me nowhere_ he thought and suddenly it hit him. If electronic clocks sometimes used hands like the old clockwork ones, why shouldn't this technology follow somewhat similar lines. If an earlier version of the Gate, assuming there was one, was more primitive, it would probably be more mechanical. This one surely looked like something derived from a mechanical device. John couldn't really grasp how would you control a wormhole with purely mechanical object, but…

Assuming the device were a modernized copy of a mechanical one, the surface with the constellation symbols would rotate. Following this assumption the nine triangular protrusions would be some kind of locks against the rotating ring. So nine coordinates out of thirty six symbols. A lot of combinations, much more than just stars in a galaxy. So probably the coordinates were somehow encoded. Without a proper code no one would be able to open the wormhole to a destination. Or even to any destination.

The thing looked old. Battered. But indestructible. And the people on that planet were talking about some Ancestors. Assuming it was old, both the constellations would change and the Gates would move. Which meant some kind of updating process taking place. And the constellations would be more like code letters than actual coordinates.

Still assuming, Crichton continued his rather long line of assumptions, it may not be advanced enough to create a really stable wormhole. But what use would there be for an unstable one? An information projection device. A wormhole based teleporter. Demolecularize a person on one side, send the data through, and remolecularize him on the other end. Which would mean… a point of origin included in each data set. So to use the Gate one would have to input the encoded coordinates and the point of origin for the travel. As there were nine Symbol Lockers, the code would be at most eight plus one…

For some time John continued staring at the Gate and assuming new theories. He hoped to be able to test them one day. He missed not having asked the people on that planet about using the thing. Or maybe about an address code or two. Now he would have to wait…

**M91-A77**

John stepped down from the gate and looked past the MALP. As its images confirmed, the village was just a burning shade of its former… self. It may never have been a great place to live. Now it was absolutely no place to live. The houses seemed to have been burned to the ground and in only a few places some stone structures still stood more or less upright. As far as he could see the trees – an usual sight on most of the planets around – were burned as well. The ground was black and smoke still rose from everywhere around. And it still was quite hot around. From his previous experiences John Sheppard could easily grasp what happened here. Napalm…

They were informed about the situation from their contacts in the alliance. As far as he knew, most people were saved, because they managed to evacuate through the gate when the fighting started. A few were still missing and most probably dead. Burned with their homes…

The refugee's accounts differed slightly, but from what John could gather, and about what Woolsey and Caldwell agreed, there were two waves of visitors here. The first one, consisting of humans and aliens, were friendly and just asked some questions. They seemed to be from far away, not even knowing what Wraith were. These were probably the newcomers to the Pegasus galaxy that McKay had been tracking for some time so far. The same ones that Deadalus was sent to investigate further.

For all he could tell the second wave of visitors was pursuing the first. When those friendlier ones evacuated it was just less than an hour before a new ship started toward the planet. It was large and for all the details John gathered later, seemed to be a troop carrier. Invasion ship. Many soldiers disembarked from it and immediately started rounding people up. When the villagers started escaping, the soldiers started shooting. Thankfully they didn't know what the Gate was. If they managed to capture anyone, they probably knew now.

"Well, what was it?" he smirked at McKay, he was already analyzing the burned soil nearby.

"Huh…" he startled the scientist. "What do you think it was, mister military man? What does it look like?"

"Napalm" John answered. "But it couldn't be, there are virtually none of the required ingredients besides gasoline in this galaxy."

"Still, as far as I could tell, it was some kind of napalm. And that means it's probably a good thing we didn't go along with Zelenka. They may be up to some nasty surprise…"

** Deadalus, in hyperspace**

The systems were still in the green on the console in front of him and they were getting closer. Steven Caldwell smiled. Even the new hardware was behaving properly and had already given them a new set of coordinates, actually a few minutes closer than their original target.

Then a beeping sound came from the communications station. Young captain Baum was certainly in an important position this day. Colonel Caldwell asked the man for details on the message they just received.

"Sir, it's the Travellers. They require our assistance on one their new colony world nearby. Some sort of military force just attacked them through the gate."

"Helm, change course." Steven saw no other course but to help, the welcoming committee would have to wait. "Comm, inform the marines and fighter pilots to get ready. They may soon need to earn their pay…"

**Undisclosed location, USAF base**

"Well then, mister Knox, is it possible?" the general asked.

"Yes" Douglas answered. "We can deliver up to 400 missiles monthly, that would fit the specifications. The basic design is ready and with just minor modifications the research part of the project should be ready inside a month. The adoption of the necessary manufacturing capabilities can start now and be only slightly changed then, so… I think we could start our deliveries before June. That is, if the specifications remain unchanged." He dropped a subtle hint here – the space requested for actual explosives was really small.

"They won't. Colonel here assures me that it is all we need" he pointed to the blonde woman officer sitting beside him. DK had already made his mind about her – she was smart, a scientist and an engineer, if she said it was enough, it was.

The meeting ended shortly after that with the agreement signed and EV Aviation with its largest yet military contract to be realized. With this, the company would maybe get a preferable position for future government cooperation, or would be more recognizable by major hi-tech companies. That was a point of itself – with major banking problems around those few giants, and their cooperates, and related industrial branches, were what was keeping the economy rising.

Still, the specifications were strange. He knew of no chemical compound that would be volatile enough to even break the missile itself, not to mention doing any harm, not in those quantities. And the missiles were small – not the great beasts attached to F-22s or F-35s. Well, launching it into space would be expensive enough, given the rocket boosters inefficiency. If only the Farscape program was not the disaster NASA declared it to be and some new aerodynamics could have been applied…

The general was a strange guy himself. He was heading… was it DHD? Nooo, DHS, that was it. He wondered what that was standing for. Department of Humorous Statements maybe. That would certainly fit the whole thing. And his comments. Oh, yes, he mentioned some other outfit as well. No, not outfit, it was an United Nations initiative rather – IOA or something. Funny guy, that O'Neill.

* * *

**Author's note:** A reminder that Farscape here is AU. Example: Farscape was a mission by NASA. IASA did not exist in this AU.

Speed of Moya (actually Command Carrier, Moya runs when it gets close) is based on series 3 finale, when Scorpius guesses that it would take 50 years to get to Earth on top speed (the other side of the Galaxy, he said).

Atlantis expedition didn't really use MALPs that much lately, but I think they still have some around. And what better way to use one, than to check an unfriendly planet. Like in 'Shrine', IIRC.

**Next on:** we'll learn to "live and play and slaughter the innocent".


	7. Live and play and slaughter the innocent

** Author's note: **Just when I should be writting my Masters and a report for my boss at the same time, I have the ideas only on how to move this forward. Annoying.

* * *

_chapter 7: Live and play and slaughter the innocent._

** Knox family ****residence**

Douglas Knox had had enough of the irritating military officers he had to deal with lately. He agreed to the missile contract of course, but he was not satisfied. The specs this guys wanted were just crazy. And they flat out refused to say why they needed it. He decided to check what this was all about on his own.

He first called Jack Crichton, father of his old friend, but that turned to be a dead end. The elder Crichton had known Jack O'Neill, when the latter one was just a Colonel, back in the nineties. He was supposed to work on deep space telemetry or something equally meaningless back then. Which left DK no closer to the answer. The Answer…

He tried accessing biography files on the General, but couldn't really get them in his hands. Or even on his computer screen. The guy has been obviously black ops in the eighties and early nineties, probably served all during the Gulf War, then retired as a colonel. And yet here he was, a three star general buying space missiles from DK's company.

He decided to try a different approach, the blonde woman, Carter, didn't look old or tough enough to be a Cold War commando, and from their talks DK guessed she was more of a technical specialist in the army. He started in the national science register and there she was, one Samantha Carter, a Ph.D. in theoretical astrophysics, no publication since 1990. Douglas crosschecked that with military records from that period and there she was, flied over a hundred hours over Iraq. He could follow her record up to a year after the Gulf War, when she was promoted to captain and moved to… deep space telemetry? A coincidence? DK didn't think so.

He tried looking for more military officers that had something to do with deep space telemetry. There were a lot of them and DK found two more generals using that cover, Hammond and Landry. But nowhere in the records could he found any clue on the project under the obvious cover.

He tried yet another approach, checking all non-commissioned officers that he could somehow tie to deep space telemetry. He found one name. Master Sergeant Walter Harriman, listed as "Gate Technician" in Cheyenne Mountain Facility. NORAD.

_Interesting_ DK thought. _Why can't a private or even a civilian work on the base gates? Why is it someone as high as a Master Sergeant? What can be so important to require a NCO just to repair the gate?_

** Deadalus, in hyperspace**

They were fast approaching the planet under attack. Since no news reached them of Atlantis' teams joining the action, Colonel Caldwell had to assume there would be no outside support and his men would have to operate on their own. Fortunately the battlecruiser crew was trained for this kind of emergency.

Just after they left hyperspace and decelerated, too close to the planet's atmosphere for anyone's liking, the fighter wing launched from Deadalus bay and headed towards the stargate location. At the same time the communications station reported that active combat was taking place planetside. Caldwell ordered the ship moved even closer to the planet and send word to the marines to get ready. Their forces were about to join the fight…

First the F-302's came down and headed toward the colony buildings near the Stargate. They met no resistance, no enemy fighter crafts, no darts. No Wraith. The human fighters circled near the gate for a while, feeding beaming coordinates to Deadalus, then spread out to check the other locations on the planet.

The communications station was receiving conflicting messages, from the Traveller defenders on the ground, occasionally from unknown attackers and from Traveller ships exiting hyperspace in orbit. Without the beaming capability, those would have to send shuttles to the surface. For a while, the U.S. marines would be the only relief to the colony. They prepared in squads of four, to cover all directions after rematerialization.

The first squad soon appeared on the largest building's roof, with six others soon following on other rooftops and one on the colony's main plaza. The marines could easily hear gunshots now – not projectile bullets like their own P-90s and occasional M-60s, but rather pulsing energy weapons, some of them more sonic in nature – those they identified as Travellers' guns – some more rapid, somewhat biological in their splash – probably the attackers' weapons.

The squads that were beamed to the roofs swiftly moved towards the access hatches and doors identified by the fighter pilots, while the lone ground team cautiously approached the somewhat damaged door to the building housing the Stargate. As they prepared to enter, each squad reported their status and waited for the others…

The F-302s were halfway around the planet by the time, without identifying a single enemy fighter craft… The Traveller ships were only now launching their first shuttles…

As the last team reported as ready, the marine major commanding the rescue mission started the countdown… And in few seconds, doors and hatches opened and guns blazing, the squads entered the fight.

The two teams entering the Gate building had the easiest time, having to dispose only of two black-and-red clad guards. Still, those were alert enough to gun down three of them before dying themselves.

In other buildings the teams had to join into the already intensive firefight, sometimes entering at the backs of the enemy troops and gunning them down easily, sometimes on the Travellers side which helped overwhelm the attackers in quick succession, but not without losses, and once in the no-men-land which ended with the team being slaughtered in an instant.

The survivors, regrouping in cleared buildings, moved to overwhelm the unknown attackers – now confirmed to be human under their uniforms and helmets. The slight change in the balance of power, without enemy reinforcements through the Stargate, lead to a total victory… just as the Travellers' reinforcements started landing…

Victory, while total, looked pyrrhic... Out of twenty four marines, only half were still alive, with two heavily wounded. Seventy three of the colonists were found dead, with more than a hundred wounded or rendered unconscious during the initial infiltration. And at the time of the attack, there were just over two hundred people on the planet. But what shocked Caldwell and - upon hearing the news - Woolsey and Ellis, was the size of the attacking force – twenty two men and women, who identified themselves by a red triangle and a white circle on a black and white background…

** Unknown system, Moya**

They exited starburst in yet another star system… but this one was substantially different. First because of the radio signals reaching Moya from one of the planets. And more importantly because of a fleet of ships of unknown design orbiting the planet. Alien, blue-grey giants built of wavy lines. And as Aeryn was watching the ships regrouping in a formation she found somewhat familiar, but couldn't recall just now, the Pilot forwarded the communicates from the planet to the bridge:

"…. read us? We advanced too far. We are under attack from the Wraith. The Ring of the Ancestors has been locked and the Darts are already culling us. Does anyone read us? We advanced too far. We are under…" the message started looping.

"Don't answer that!" Aeryn Sun and Ka D'Argo said at the same time. The Luxan continued: "If those are the same Wraith we heard about in the village, they may attack us as well. We should wait and observe."

"But there are people down there!" John shouted.

"No…" Aeryn had to say to that. She realized what the alien ship were preparing for in the orbit. "The full scale bombardment will start soon. We won't even reach the planet in time."

Crichton stared not comprehending. "What? Why?" he muttered.

"It's like Peacekeeper pacification tactic. They're about the destroy the technological competitor. Obviously they prefer pre-industrial societies as subjects." D'Argo answered him.

The ships were now almost in place. A few smaller ones moved to cover the gaps and… a rain of some energy based projectiles erupted from the ships toward the planet. There were seven of the large ships visible on this side of the planet, all shooting. More were probably on the other side. Tens of smaller ships were using the same weapons, if on a smaller scale. Judging from the explosions soon visible on the planet's surface even from this distance, nothing would be left on the planet in just a few hundred microts. A planetary holocaust…

And then the aliens spotted them. One of their larger ships broke orbit – not that there was much left to destroy below – and started toward them, soon joined by several smaller ships. As it approached, Aeryn had to revise her judgment of its scale. It was slightly longer than a Command Carrier, but had less volume, as it was shaped more like a fighter, not a capital ship. It seemed… organic in nature, even more so than the Leviathans. A single small speck detached from the ship and started in their direction. Then one more. And a dozen more…

"I think we should get away from here. Fast" Aeryn said.

"The starburst is not ready yet" the Pilot retorted. "Commander Crichton, could we?..."

"Yes, yes, already on in…"

And soon, just before the large vessel got close, Moya accelerated in a nearby planet's magnetosphere, performing the farscape maneuver, leaving the system in an unknown direction…

** Wraith ****hive ship, Eistaa alliance**

The queen moved her ship to the edges of the system, to think about the last developments. While they were eradicating the human pests, that presumed to invent radio, an unknown ship, slightly larger than a Wraith cruiser, appeared in the system. It was definitely observing the situation for a while and then escaped using a strange maneuver, when she sent a ship to investigate. She was fascinated by the ship, as their scans revealed it to be fully alive, not a dead husk like the Wraith crafts.

She was in constant contact with other hives' captain, yet she didn't notice a giant ship that entered the system till it started decelerating nearby. It was not travelling through hyperspace, yet somehow it was travelling faster than light. And was thus indistinguishable to her fleets' sensors till it slowed. She hissed annoyed… But she was also intrigued. This was the second unknown visitor this day.

In fact she was intrigued enough to contact the ship before ordering it destroyed. For now, she decided to take a look at the scans… And she hissed in annoyance again. Besides ordinary armament one would expect from a ship, even a giant ship, this one was carrying four enormous ones, of unknown manufacture or capabilities, but each the size of a cruiser. She decided to wait, first ordering the rest of her forces out of the system… for a while.

** Scorpius Command Carrier**

"Hail them" Scorpius ordered, watching the strange ship on the viewscreen. He found its shape somehow comforting, something that would fit a hybrid like him. Not the Peacekeeper utilitarizm he had to live with and not the Scarran pompousness he had to grow up in. He liked it.

"They are responding, but they do not appear to have visual communication capabilities. Shall I put them through?" Scorpius just starred at the pure blood, who suddenly remembered his duties again and just said "Opening audio only channel, now."

* * *

**Author's note: **As I had to split the Wraith meeting, we will now sing _Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue… |__ …and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. _Which will be another meeting...


	8. Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blu

_ chapter 8: Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue…_

** Atlantis, Briefing Room**

Richard Woolsey has called a meeting as soon as the Deadalus contacted them from the Travellers' planet. Then the bodies started coming. And then the situation got worse again…

"Dr. Zelenka, are you sure?" he said to the commlink.

"Of course he isn't, he can't be, he's not me" McKay muttered quite not silently enough.

"Yes, I am quite sure they came from M91-A77" the Czech scientist answered. "To be one hundred percent sure someone would have to check the gate on the other end, but…"

"All right, thank you" Woolsey stopped him from continuing, then turned back to the people waiting in the room: "I think we can for a while assume that the same force attacked both planets…"

"And who can say they didn't attack more?" this time it was Colonel Sheppard, who interrupted. For a second everybody in the room froze. Then Woolsey once again turned back, this time speaking to his radio.

"Major Lorne" he called Sheppard's second in command. "Prepare your team for an off-world recon mission to check on our allies' status. As soon as possible." Once again Richard Woolsey turned back to the room: "Colonel Ellis, I think it would be advisable if you took Apollo to the immediate area of the… the…" he struggled for a proper word "Incursion. Take Colonel Sheppard's team and a cloaked jumper. It seems the living ship scouted earlier was not the only thing that came through the wormhole. We are dealing with some unknown military force and I would like everybody on their guard. Now, doctor McKay, can we use the astrophysics array to look for other ships?"

** Unknown ****location, Moya**

John Crichton stared at the ceiling. A meeting with a space faring race had just taken place. And just his luck – the race turned out to be subjugating humans. And destroying them if they advanced too much. Too much being barely radio civilization. Thankfully this was another galaxy so he didn't have to worry about yet another species bound to destroy Earth.

His worry remained Scorpius. The crazy Peacekeeper was still pursuing him, even here. And if was going after them, they would surely meet the Wraith. Tough luck, maybe they'll fight each other and Scorpius will finally buy his plot and stop following…

Following, that's it. How the hell was he still in pursuit. They must have made a hundred jumps. Crais would have long ago fell behind, lost. And there was no fleet of Marauders scouting around this time. He had to be tracking something. A signal…

John Crichton rose from his bed and left his quarters heading to the Pilot's den. Still on his way, he called the Pilot and simply asked: "Does Moya pick up anything out of the ordinary on the ship?"

"Define out of the ordinary" came a harsh answer. No one else seemed to realize what was going on.

"A signal, an oscillation, a transmitter or any other device that may be communicating our position. Inside or outside the ship."

"Oh…" the Pilot answered. And then understanding in an altogether different tone of voice: "Oh… Commencing a sweep."

** Deadalus, in hyperspace**

Deadalus, following the subspace transmitter, would soon leave hyperspace. Colonel Caldwell was anxious, waiting for the encounter. He intended to ask some pointed questions. Maybe use some pointed tools, if it comes to that.

The battlecruiser came back to normal space in a display of blue-green subspace distortion. The region of space it appeared in was… empty. There was no ship nearby. The crew quickly identified the source of the signal they were following to a drifting piece a few kilometers up front.

"Doctor Zelenka" Steven Caldwell used the comm system. The search would have to continue in a less direct way. "It seems we may have to fully use your equipment after all…"

** Unknown system, Moya**

John Crichton stared at the ceiling. Again. There really was a transmitter attached to the outer hull of Moya. Neither he, nor anyone else on board could guess how long it had been there. But now, once they were warned about the possibility, Pilot was looking for more conspicuous items. That no more were found on the initial sweep didn't mean there were none. So DRDs were now going all around the vast Leviathan's corridors looking everywhere the sensors could not penetrate.

And John Crichton just stared at the ceiling. He wondered about the transmitter they have left behind. It didn't look like Peacekeeper tech he was familiar with. It looked more rudimentary, like some parts connected with purpose but without heart. Or even project for that matter. Some elements of it looked like they could have been manufactured on Earth. Probably due to their 'made in China' quality. But the rest...

He didn't really understand how it was sending the signals. That it did so was only apparent due to the rhythmic pulses of the central crystal. Some parts connected with it… Crichton have never seen anything like it and the closest thing he could think of was Moya's starburst chamber. Which would mean it was some kind of starburst based communications. Absurd? He didn't think so. Still, the resemblance was rather small…

He didn't think that the tracking device they found was installed there by Scorpius. It couldn't have been created by him. Which left who? The indigenous people of this galaxy? So… maybe the ones in the cloaked ship that scanned them? One day he would find out.

**Wraith hive ship, Eistaa alliance**

The first contact with the space-faring race calling itself the Wraith was quite satisfactory. The crew seemed disturbed and unwilling to further the contact, but they were Peacekeepers first – they submitted to Scorpius will. Now the meeting was taking place on one of smaller Wraith ships. Apparently, the hosts were not an uniformed species and certain alliances fought between each other. Scorpius, being somewhat similar in appearance, was at first taken with distance, but this had been overcome as well. The talks were continuing, so far now that a temporary alliance seemed possible. Providing some selected planet addresses helped. But the alliance was not Scorpius' main aim. He decided it was time to leave.

"I think we may now adjourn with the main matter and let us think about this. We are in pursuit of certain… characters, and should follow before the trail gets cold. Can we arrange for a meeting at a later date in some other location?"

"Paaa…" the Wraith queen made a sound totally incomprehensible to Scorpius' ears. Then she just said, no emotion moving her: "Certainly…"

"Ah, splendid. As we do not know the local coordinate system, can the meeting be conducted on a planet with the Ring?"

"The Ring?" the female did not seem to understand… But soon caught on: "You must mean the Stargate. Yes, it is possible. An address will be provided to you before you leave in your… Marauder."

She started to stand up to end the meeting when she hissed in annoyance. A white-haired Wraith was standing in the doorway.

"Leave immediately. We will contact you. Soon" said the queen and left in a hurry. Scorpius decided to follow at a more leisurely pace, but was directed back to the troop transport he arrived on…

** Peacekeeper Marauder, en route to the Command Carrier**

The Wraith were disturbed. Their ships gathered, some arriving from within the system, other starbursting from elsewhere. Something was happening and Scorpius was sure he would want to know just what was going on. For that purpose he decided to stall his pursuit as much as possible.

When yet another of the Wraith capital ships arrived, he knew this was it. The others, ones belonging to the alliance he was negotiating with, started toward it in formation. The arriving ship proved not to be alone, several smaller ones soon following. In a few microts, two battle lines formed, quickly cutting the distance.

Then the ships opened file. These were not ordinary explosive round Scorpius had expected to see. The Wraith ships were firing at each other with some kind of energy or plasma projectiles. As the half-Scarran was more interested in the weapon itself, he hardly noticed when the intruders were destroyed. While the guns looked formidable, the ships weren't – they lacked heavy armor or the intersecting two-layer shield the Command Carrier's enjoyed. The Eistaa alliance Wraith lost one of their smaller ships, probably just because of the lack of those. He decided he had not much to worry about these Wraith – they may help with the search, but they were not a danger themselves. And besides, their battle tactics were lame… even Scarrans would knew better and would not lose a single ship in a small engagement like this.

** Unknown system, Moya**

John Crichton stared at the swirling event horizon of a semi-stable wormhole. After a few hours he had finally cracked the encryption on the Gate location codes and since then he had been entering numbers at random and sending them to the Gate receivers. Sometimes nothing happened. Sometimes a symbol lit up here or there and then died down again. And just few minutes ago, after seven symbol code, the Gate connected. First seven of the triangular locks lit up, as did seven symbols on the Gate circumference. Then all the symbols lit up and all John's measurement tools in the cargo hold registered an energy spike… before frying. And then, the space-time continuum erupted from the Gate inner ring in a sweeping whirlwind of elemental particles and quantum effects on a scale much larger than Planck's. He was lucky not to be standing in the vortex' path, some of the tables were now partially gone…

The wormhole, not being fully stable, as he could tell from his wormhole sense, would not allow any material object through without collapsing. And yet it didn't, he already sent some apparatus through and the event horizon was still there. As he hypothesized, the Gate was there not only to create the wormhole but also to disintegrate objects on one end and reintegrate them on the other, information contained in particles being the only thing that could easily pass through. He supposed appearing on the other side one would feel terribly cold – the reintegration does this to you, he knew. And the other side could have been colder still, he had no way to tell if it was a another orbital Gate or a planetary one. For all he could tell it was entirely possible to have thousands located on ships, like this one on Moya…

He had extended his hand to touch the event horizon – from this close it seemed possible, the surface was fluctuating like water – when the Gate disengaged and he felt the Leviathan starbursting. Once back in normal space the Gate code did not work. And he had not touched the surface…


	9. And the dreams that you dare to dream re

**Author's note:** Writing this took a while, as I am now finalizing my MSc. The main part of this chapter (and I mean THE part) was ready even before the last few episodes, but I had no idea what to write here besides IT. I mean this... well, you will see.

* * *

_chapter 9: …And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true._

** Atlantis**

Richard Woolsey stared at his personal computer, trying to put his thoughts on paper. Or just on the screen. The events that transpired lately had confused him and he was a veteran of the Stargate program, having experienced almost everything humanly – or inhumanly – possible. He tried to put the fact together once again.

A giant wormhole had appeared few weeks ago on the outskirts of the galaxy. Most probably two factions had come through. A possibility existed that it was just one group, playing an elaborate ruse on everyone. One of the visitors' groups operated from a living ship, even more living that was the case of the Wraith hives and cruisers. The second group operated on an unknown basis, probably travelling in a ship as well, but of unknown design.

The first ship appeared not to be armed and was travelling at random, visiting both inhibited and uninhibited systems. Colonel Sheppard's group had observed the ship when it passed near a Stargate. It was not carrying any weapon of a known design. It probably didn't know what Stargates were at the time, because they had collected the one used to visit them. The Deadalus and the Apollo were now en route to meet the visitors, following a planted transmitter.

The second group was even more mysterious. They were apparently following the living ship and had first landed on a planet visited by its crew, just after these left. Soon after the settlement on the planet was destroyed. Several teams were at the time sent by the attackers through the Stargate to other planets, killing hundreds. One of those teams had been intercepted and stopped. The assailants were human of some military organization. They were highly trained and used advanced weapons. None was apprehended. Nothing else was known…

Richard Woolsey was still not sure what to put into his computer.

** Deadalus, in orbit around M6A-9AS**

Steven Caldwell was getting… anxious. There had been after the living ship for a few days now and had not caught up with it. Even through Deadalus was obviously a lot faster. It seemed just like the luck was on the other side, always disturbing them in some way. Now they were orbiting a planet with a stargate to contact Atlantis for latest news. And maybe do something useful instead of blindly following Zelenka's machine. A machine that obviously did not work as intended.

"All right" he decided after contact with Atlantis had been broken without any new information on the targets whereabouts. "We'll do it the old fashioned way. Helm, prepare a search grid around the last known location of the ship. Outward, circular, half the sensor range. No deviations for star systems. We will find it yet…"

** Los Angeles, Earth**

Douglas Knox had just got home from a holiday trip and he was even more disturbed than earlier. He should not have chosen hiking. Especially not near Colorado Springs. Now he just had to check one Colonel Mitchell. He had to know…

It was his fourth day on the spot when he had met the man in the street. DK was shocked, as the guy looked just like his old friend, John Crichton, maybe a little younger and built more like a farm boy, not a promising scientist. Upon seeing the guy Douglas stopped in his tracks, but then came to the man and asked cautiously: _Excuse me, do we know each other. I seem to recall…_ and paused for effect. The guy turned back, looked for a while and answer: _I doubt it. Name is Mitchell, Colonel Cameron Mitchell, US Air Force. And you are?_ After that DK ended the conversation as soon as he could. It was odd… The guy looked like Crichton… And he provided his name just a little bit too fast, like trying to seem a normal airforce-man.

But the computer confirmed his story. There was indeed one Colonel C. Mitchell, looking as he did, on the record since the eighties. Working in… deep space telemetry. And previously – as a fighter pilot in Antarctica! _Why the hell do we have fighters in Antarctica?_ DK thought. _It's not like there is anything important there, just loads of ice. Or is there?..._

Douglas tried his skills once more, going after some military and government computers. There were lots of shipments going to Antarctica lately, mostly through MacMurdo… and not all were American. Quite a lot of stuff and staff had apparently came from Russia, China and loads of other countries. He knew one of the Canadians on the list – one Rodney McKay, a talented physicist in his time. Now without any new publications for a while, DK checked. _What would a man like that do in Antarctica? And what the hell is IOA anyway?_

** Apollo, in hyperspace**

John Sheppard stared though the mess window at the hyperspace streaming by. He was eating jell-o, the universal SGC and IOA meal. Apollo was now en route to meet with the Deadalus and assist Colonel Caldwell in his search for the newcomers. The space whale, as Sheppard thought of it. He was enjoying his meal and thinking of his latest… romantic encounter, to put it nicely, when Rodney McKay entered the room, seemingly looking for someone.

"So what is it?" John asked. Somehow he was sure this would be trouble. Rodney stared dumbly for a moment, before answering:

"Wraith, what else? You'd better come with me…"

** Scorpius Command Carrier**

Scorpius retreated to his chambers to recount the recent revelations. The Wraith queen was informative when it came to detailing her enemies… and hopes for their little alliance.

Millions of years ago this galaxy was dominated by advanced, Sabacean race, the builders of the Stargates. The Wraith was a young species that evolved on some remote planet, but at some point acquired highly advanced biotechnology from the Sabaceans. It helped the Wraith in building their first spaceships and offworld colonies… and after a while the Wraith advanced on their own. And they had one purpose – to feed on other life forms, preferably intelligent. The Wraith declared a war on the Sabaceans and they fought it for thousands of years. At some point the enemy made a mistake and the Wraith quickly used it. The war became one of numbers against technology. And quite quickly the Wraith numbers won. The Sabaceans retreated to their capital system, then to their capital planet, then to a single city… and then abandoned the galaxy altogether, escaping through a stargate to some other one.

For ten thousand years the Wraith dominated the galaxy, destroying the opposition and occasionally culling the weak preindustrial societies that were left around. They took to hibernation cycles to let their food breed…

And a few years ago the hibernation cycle was broken by an unknown Sabaceans that reclaimed the ancient city of the gatebuilders. First, they were weak and they almost fell to the assault of Hive Ships when it came. But then they came with ships. Not very powerful at first… but enough to destroy many ships.

Then more problems rose within the galaxy. The newcomers woke (Scorpius was not sure if he understood this word right) a powerful gatebuilders weapon. Powerful enough for a brief alliance between the Wraith and various Sabacean groups, created just to destroy the weapon.

But meanwhile the Wraith unity shattered and various alliances began to fight with each other. And the newcomers came back with their ships even stronger. Any Wraith plot to get to their home planet in their galaxy failed. And the planet was called Earth… Crichton's homeworld. And that disturbed Scorpius… a lot.

** Unknown system, Moya**

They had been in this system for few hours so far and did not expect Scorpius' visit – if he were to show up this time – for at least a few more. The system was another dead one without even planets, just an asteroid field. It was entirely unlike the Uncharted Territories – or Peacekeeper Space for that matter – where you would find a thriving civilization near every other star. Not like that here. Out of tens of visited location they only met two civilization and ruins of one more. Now it was probably just one civilization – if, once again, you could call a few settlers that – and ruins of two more. Dead space…

They were all on the bridge, discussing the matter of supplies, when the Pilot appeared and the viewscreen lit up.

"Something…" the Pilot started to say, but before he warned of the event, it did happen. On the viewscreen a part of the ordinary space ruptured in a microsecond. Green and blue – or maybe he just interpreted it as green and blue – strings formed around a… hole in space-time. A bubble of those formed soon, engulfing what was probably quite a huge area. Then a ship came through…

"Was it some kind of a starburst?" Aeryn asked, just as the space reformed, leaving no trace of the event that took place barely seconds before, as they all stared at the slowing vessel.

"Yes" Pilot answered shortly, probably taking as many sensor readings as he could and preparing for a starburst himself.

The ship didn't look like anything they had seen before. Crichton thought it was roughly triangular in design, but this first approximation immediately struck him as inadequate. As he looked closer, he saw it was of a triple-hull design, like a trimarane, with two large… hangar bays probably, on the sides of its main mass. The front part was somewhat lower and a huge saucer-like thing sat on top of its back, Star Trek fashion, but was more of a square thingy. An array of antennas was located both on its… head? - yes, head, it somewhat reminded Crichton of a turtle, so a low head in the front – and on the top of the saucer-part, near another structure, probably a bridge. As in turned in their direction they all caught a glimpse of giant engines, quite unlike any technology they have met before, on the back of the ship.

Slowly, more details dawned on Crichton. Lack of exterior weapon arrays, but from the design probably a military vessel. Lack of fine touches on the hull, but lots of metallic parts clearly visible. Windows. Lights. Something written on the sides.

"We are receiving a hail from the ship" the Pilot said. He sounded somewhat disturbed at a sight of a mechanical ship starbursting like a Leviathan. "It's incoming on all frequencies. Putting it on…" he broke off, appearing to move faster. "The Command Carrier is here again. Starburst in three, two, one…"

"Wait!" Crichton shouted, but was not heard. They jumped. Once back in normal space, he asked the Pilot: "Could we at least listen to the message now?"

"Of course. All appears to be in order and we are safe for a while again" the Pilot said and then started the playback.

_This is Colonel Caldwell of the United States Air Force, captain of the Deadalus. Please identify…_ the message broke off. John Crichton gaped. And after a while he just said:

"Oh God, you have got to be kidding me!..."


	10. Consultin' with the rain

**Author's Note:** Thanks to Celina for beta reading this chapter.

* * *

_chapter 10: Consultin' with the rain._

** M70-AM3, Deadalus****, minutes earlier**

The sensor array had finally detected the living ship and Colonel Steven Caldwell was making sure he was ready for the meeting. The visitors to this galaxy had certainly been avoiding them for too long. Avoiding being the keyword, as it seemed almost too much for simply luck to move out just before Deadalus got there. Not this time through…

The crew fully prepared now, the ship ready and the course plotted, Caldwell gave the final order and the Deep Space Carrier entered hyperspace. It was to be just a short voyage and, in less than a minute, the Deadalus came back to the normal space.

The short range sensors quickly picked up the other ship and the Earth vessel turned to face it. When it became visible not only on the screens, but also through the bridge window, Caldwell could do nothing else but stand up and gawk. Despite understanding the nature of the other ship, he hadn't truly believe it to be alive. Now, upon seeing it, he somehow felt it was.

He made a hand signal and then, just to be sure, said: "All right, put me on all frequencies or if you can – hail them." He waited for a confirmation and then started his planned speech: "Unknown vessel. This is Colonel Caldwell of the United States Air Force, captain of the Deadalus." He paused, in part for effect, in part because something was going on with the living ship. It was getting lit up. "Please identify your…" he didn't finish as the ship suddenly entered hyperspace and disappeared. Backwards…

"All right, what happened here?" he asked after a while of staring at clear space.

For a while no one answered and the bridge fell silent. Then, the sensor array terminal made a blip…

"Sir" the officer assigned to it asked for attention. "The sensors are now detecting a new ship approaching this location. It is moving at… triple impulse and slowing down."

"Triple impulse? Isn't that more than the speed of light? How could it?"

"Sir, I am just reading what the screen tells me…"

"Right, right. Get me that Czech guy here. Now!"

** Knox family residence, Los Angeles, Earth**

Douglas Knox arrived at another unexplainable phenomena. While looking around the Cheyenne Mountain personnel history, he encountered several mentions of his old acquaintance Rodney McKay. They had met each other, together with John Crichton, years ago at an astrophysics conference and maintained a form of… cooperation in the mid-nineties. Usually with McKay arrogantly bragging about his scientific exploits and pointing out what would and what wouldn't work in the Farscape program. Then, somewhere around nineteen ninety six or ninety seven, McKay signed a contract with the US military and moved to some secret location. For all DK had gathered then – from hints from the still arrogant scientist – to Area 51 of all places. And now one Rodney McKay was listed as a visitor at the secret facility DK was investigating, twice in twenty oh two and once in twenty oh four. Which meant a possibility of some new hints from his old acquaintance.

Douglas checked several internet sites, public and private, before deciding to switch to using the phone. All he could gather from his web search, was that Rodney was now associated with the mysterious IOA and communications with him would be possible only through an e-mail provided by IOA. DK decided to skip that step as it would most probably be monitored for sensitive information.

After several dead ends (and some of his contacts had been quite highly placed) he ended waiting for McKay's sister Jeannie, now Jeannie Miller, to pick up the phone. He met her a few times, so he guessed he would learn something from her.

"Yes?" she finally answered the phone, sounding distracted. DK thought he also heard her say something along the lines of "stop that, be quiet now" to someone, but he could not begin too guess…

"Hello Jeannie, it's DK, Rodney's old friend" he said, still thinking…

"Oh, hello, Douglas, I…" she broke off, hushing someone. With that, finally, Douglas switched from his engineering point of view:

"Oh my, is that a daughter I hear there? I didn't realize…"

"Yes, you know, I shifted my priorities some time ago."

"I guess… You know, after the Farscape fiasco I also started a family. It's only natural…"

"Yes…" she sounded distracted again. DK decided to get to the point. Or almost to it, he didn't want to be all that obvious:

"Well, by the way, how is Rodney doing on that end? Did he finally find someone?"

"Oh, you wouldn't believe, he's with this young doctor…"

"Doctor? You mean astrophysicist?"

"No, not quite. She's a M.D."

"Oh" somehow that gave DK a pause.

"So why are you calling? I guess it has to do with Meredith?" he heard her mocking McKay's first name as she said it. She always did it.

"Yes, I was hoping for a little get together, you know… It is already been 10 years since John… So I thought… Well, but it seems like he disappeared off the surface of this planet and I was hoping you knew where to find him."

"I would certainly seem this way" he thought he heard her holding together not to laugh out loud. He couldn't be sure, not over a phone. She continued: "You know he's been working for the military this past few years?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact I also do, but just as an subcontractor… Supplier…" he couldn't resist adding.

"Well, Meredith is now quite unreachable, so it's quite hard to get a hang of him. You can try e-mail, but they don't have regular internet there and it may take a while."

"Wait, you mean, Rodney McKay and no internet? How does he live there?" Douglas laughed and heard Jeannie joining him. Somehow he couldn't imagine McKay without constantly checking his e-mail.

"I guess he has better toys there" she said finally. "If you'd like I can tell him you called next time he contacts me."

"Yes, that would be great. Thanks Jeannie."

"Bye" she cut off as Douglas heard something crashing in the background. _Kids_, he thought…

**Odyssey, at the edges of Milky Way**

The hyperdrive failed again. Colonel Davidson had had enough of this. He hit the panel with his hand.

"It seems we won't get through to the other side. Please plot a course back to more normal space and we will continue charting further along the main arm" he said.

The crew began buzzing again, some repairing the hyperdrive, some with more usual work. This region of space was clearly affecting navigation, they couldn't have travelled more than twenty light years into it and they had to stop at least seven times now. And they even saw an unstable wormhole without a gate, just hanging out there, in the void. And…

"Sir" a communications officer interrupted him. "We have picked up a garbled transmission. It appear to had been broadcast in… English?" the man sounded surprised. Well, he had every right to be. Davidson was surprised himself.

"Err…" he was not sure how to react at first, but then simple curiosity took precedence. "Let's hear it."

"Putting it on, now."

"My name…" it started, quite muffled by static. "John Crichton, an astro... Three years ago… shot through a wormhole. I'm… the universe… living ship… prisoners, my friends… enemies. Powerful… all I want… a way home… warn Earth… upward... wonders I've seen" the audio stopped.

"That is all, sir."

"My God! Crichton… I somehow recall the name."

"Sir, the computer says he was a NASA astronaut. Declared dead after an incident in space. In March 1999."

"So the message is over five years old then? What direction did it come from? Was it?..."

"Sir, it seems to be coming from the other side of this… region, but there is much interference due to quantum anomalies."

"Uhm, right" somehow Davidson dreaded this answer. "All right, we'll try one more time in that direction and if we don't break through, we'll contact Icarus or Earth for directions. Maybe get someone from SGC to try gating to the other side. Or maybe a team will be able to gate through…"

** M70-AM3, Deadalus**

Radek Zelenka, rushing by an air force sergeant, entered the bridge. He felt somewhat harassed on this mission, constantly being told what to do, what not to do, and so on. But Colonel Caldwell sounded urgent so he went to the bridge without any outside fuss. He decided he would talk about it later… with McKay, probably, and make him take it on to Woolsey. But now…

His train of thought stopped, derailed by what he was seeing on the screen he was led to. He didn't even realize Caldwell approached him until the Colonel spoke:

"What exactly is happening here, doctor Zelenka?"

"Oh… I… well… it seems the ship is travelling at warp speed. I didn't even know it was possible, the ancient never did anything like this. The energy requirements alone…"

"Facts, doctor Zelenka, can you tell me anything that will be helpful when this ship arrives here?"

"I… err… no. Only that those… aliens seem to be quite advanced, but along quite different line than the usual space faring races. The usual step is to use hyperspace as it is faster and, well, more feasible. As I said…"

"All right, that is quite enough then. Thank you, doctor Zelenka" Colonel Caldwell turned back to the bridge crew. "Keep the shields up and the engines ready. If all else fails, they probably won't be able to follow us through hyperspace."

** Moya, several microts after starburst**

Aeryn looked at John, who was pacing nervously around the bridge. He seemed entirely shocked after the encounter a few moments before and hadn't said anything… except some muttering signifying his disbelief. She was not sure what to think herself. If she understood correctly the hail from the – Deadalus, was it? – came in the same language that Crichton was teaching her. In English. But an advanced space worthy ship from Earth? In another galaxy? That was certainly impossible.

"Pilot" John finally broke out of his trance. "You were saying something about a temporal displacement you detected, weren't you?"

"Yes, Commander Crichton" the Pilot answered via his holographic interface. "Moya and I calculate that we are now between two and eight cycles forward in time from our previous… location."

"No, that cannot be true…" John stated walking in circles again, mumbling to himself. "The readings must be off in this galaxy in general… We cannot be a few years in the future… Few hundred, maybe… A thousand, more likely… The rate of advance… no, it cannot be…" he paced some more and then, without a word, left the bridge…


	11. Arts and crafts

**Author's Note: **Took me a while to finish this chapter, but I hope the next one will be created faster. Once again thanks to Celina for beta reading this chapter.

* * *

_chapter 11: Arts and crafts_

** Knox family residence, L****os Angeles, Earth**

DK sat in front of his computer and stared. He may have actually broken through the dark cloud surrounding the mystery. If that was a fact, it was disturbing to say the least.

He hit his lucky break when he was investigating the previous employees of the Cheyenne Mountain facility. A name – Catherine Langford – stood out, mostly because she was female and well over sixty at the time. He knew there was female personnel in the Air Force, and had been for a long time. Certainly not that long. She may have been a female contractor then, but the age still put her for pension rather than secret research. Intrigued by this simple inconsistency, DK decided to dig deeper into Ms. Langford and got all the way back to 1928. There the mystery started to unravel… or was it a fake, put in place to misguide people like him?

In 1928, Catherine Langford's father had dug up something large and unique in Egypt. The artifact had then been transported to the other side of the Atlantic in the early days of World War II and transferred to some secret facility. Then it surfaced a few years later, laid down in a military storage facility in Virginia… until Ms. Langford restarted the research in 1980s. The rest was mostly classified…

Still, DK managed to dig up some other facts, tying in to this story. The Cheyenne Mountain facility had its budget increased by several billion dollars in the next years, up to five billion in 1995. Then, for a year, the budget was decreased back to normal and in 1997 reinstituted and increased again, to seven billion dollars. And more, in the following years.

In 1995, just before the sudden pause in funding, Catherine Langford contacted, and probably recruited, one Daniel Jackson, an archeologist, later listed as civilian contractor for the facility. And that's what really disturbed DK. Doctor Jackson had definitely had a large impact on the project, the funding had been cut just after he was brought in. Brought in, and probably succeeded in moving the secret program to its finale. And the same doctor Jackson, while still a civilian, became known for his controversial claims that the pyramids were landing sites for alien spaceships…

If the secret project profited from bringing in Daniel Jackson, did it mean that he was right all along?

**Peacekeeper Command Carrier, unknown location**

As the Command Carrier's Hetch-drive decelerated, Scorpius stared at the small ship that remained after the escaping Leviathan starburst.

"Unknown vessel. This is Colonel Caldwell of the Earth's ship Deadalus. Please respond" was suddenly broadcast on all frequencies, the voice of the ship's commander tense and suspicious. It was probably to be expected after sending the scouting parties through the Ring, Scorpius thought, but totally besides the point here.

"This is Scorpius of the Peacekeeper Command Carrier Veneration" he decided to respond. "Did you say you come from Earth?" he asked only to listen to a few seconds of stunned silence.

"Yes" an answer finally came, the voice still more suspicious and even hostile.

Scorpius knew, from Crichton's neural clone, that something had been going on out there, on his home planet. A secondary space program was run by the military and in its early mishaps it even required Crichton's organization – the official space agency, NASA – to provide help in retrieving its spacemen from orbit (how those men got to the outer space without anybody on their planet noticing – Crichton did check all possible sources on that once – was beyond Scorpius and the neural clone). But that was a year before Crichton's pet project misfired him to Peacekeeper Territories. It would be ten to fifteen years later now. And somehow, an Earth vessel was hanging out there in open space, in another galaxy.

Scorpius decided to act. First, by closing the comm system.

"Prepare weapons, all Flak Cannons and whatever secondary system have them in range. Do it quietly, don't let them notice" he said. Just how the Deadalus was not to notice the largest guns in Peacekeeper arsenal bearing on it he left to his subordinates. "Prepare Prowlers to launch, they may have some fighters in those bays."

Meanwhile, he reopened the comm line to distract the Deadalus commander, at least for a little while. It was just a hundred microts before one of his subordinates signaled they were ready. He closed the comm system again… and paused to think.

The mere fact that an Earth vessel was here, in another galaxy, barely few years after all Earth was capable of was Crichton's module, was reason enough to act. If Earth advanced this far, it also probably had weapons more powerful than the Peacekeepers. And that meant that this single Command Carrier may be heavily damaged in this fight. Scorpius was willing to take the risk – enough intelligence gathered here and delivered to the High Council would be crucial to Peacekeeper survival and prosperity. Crichton could wait, this was more important…

"Fire" Scorpius said at last.

** Knox family residence, L****os Angeles, Earth**

Newspapers. As far as DK knew, the main source of intelligence for, well, Intelligence. As in CIA. Following the stock exchange or just industrial output of foreign countries was often worth more than spy satellites and James Bond style moves. DK decided to follow the example, especially now, when he had some additional points to follow. Slightly disturbing points…

He checked the Colorado Springs', Denver's and other nearby newspapers and magazines for references to unusual military activity and, not coincidentally, aliens. There were quite a few hits, much more than the country average… and much more than Roswell… and much more than the supposed Area 51, Nevada (although there was a substantial rise of UFO observations there lately). It was… disturbing again.

Logistics. Another source of intelligence for the Intelligence. And a large part of any army and of any strategic military campaign. Logistics DK knew all about, as even his company had a large department dedicated only to logistics: transporting the raw materials to the company and transporting the produced aviation and military systems to the civil aviation companies and military warehouses.

And logistics were another point that disturbed Douglas even more. A large quantity of arms was transported to NORAD for the last few years. Large amounts of computer and medical equipment were constantly delivered to Cheyenne Mountain and sometimes removed from there as used up. How a magnetic resonance machine could be used so much as to be scrapped after a year or so was totally beyond DK. The amount of short-term usable medicines was staggering, as was the amount of all other types of drugs and even chemicals. The food requirements for NORAD doubled when the unknown secret project started there and somehow kept doubling every few years ever since. And still, that was not really disturbing…

Nuclear weapons made their way into Cheyenne Mountain Complex never to be seen again or to be transported to Nevada as _enhanced_. Hundreds of UAVs were used by the facility and usually reported as _destroyed during recon _later. It looked even worse for other types of unmanned vehicles. Once, components for a whole space rocket made their way into the mountain never to be seen again. And every once in a while, energy flew back from NORAD to the national electrical grid. Sometimes more energy than the United States needed in a year. It was…

An icon appeared on the computer screen as DK was still gaping at the information he uncovered. He put the notification there years ago, to let him know if anything new was uncovered about the Farscape catastrophe. And it was flashing now. Someone was downloading every bit of information there was about the Farscape mission.

** M70-AM3, Deadalus**

"Target the secondary hull and fire" Caldwell had no other choice but to respond to the enemy attack. The shields disturbingly felt the attack, even if it was just projectile based one. After just one salvo of the enemy's main gun, they were down to 78%.

"Prepare maneuvering thrusters to avoid further attacks" he decided to play it safe. He turned to the back of the room "Lieutenant Scott, set the railguns to kinetic shield mode." It was for once a strictly Earth based tech, first deployed by ground forces and now adapted to the BC-304s by some Californian company. The idea was not much different from anti-missiles – shoot down incoming projectiles. For the large caliber attacks the Deadalus faced now this should be enough.

Meanwhile the officer responsible targeted and fired the Asgard beam... which encountered enemy shield and seemed to dissipate… until it became obvious that it did penetrate. Some kind of atypical energy barrier shielded the hostile vessel, in some placed blocking the Asgard beam without any noticeable integrity loss, in others – the integrity must have been compromised from the start, for the beam partially penetrated there, hit the vessel itself and went through to dissipate on the other edge of the enemy shield.

"Hail them and demand a cease to hostilities" Caldwell decided. As it seemed the enemy did not stand a chance and he wanted to resume dialogue.

"Sir, they're firing again. Additionally it seems they're releasing fighters" Captain Karn responded to that. That was something Colonel Caldwell did not expect. The Deadalus moved out of the harm's way, with the railguns effortlessly destroying the incoming projectiles.

"Well then…" he thought it over again and decided to act. "Target the fighter bays and fire. Once that is done, concentrate on the main hull and fire at will." He turned. "Launch the F-302s…"

** Knox family residence, Los Angeles, Earth**

DK had only managed to trace the people downloading the Farscape data to an US military server in Nevada (after following it through a few satellites and thousands of kilometers of landlines all over the world) and expected to be getting closer, when a sudden sound startled him. He needed a while to realize that someone was at his doors. He stood up, shook his head once again in wonder and went to open the door.

Once he opened them, he looked in wonder at Colonel Carter and a man in civilian clothes, unknown to him.

"Doctor Knox" the woman said "I am afraid we will need to have a little chat."

** Unknown planet**

Scorpius exited the wormhole device, stepping onto the planet he designated as his staging area. A few officers followed and the device disengaged in a rain of sparks, leaving a rematerialized arm hanging in the air, at least for a little while.

Scorpius looked around the small camp he had prepared here, unmoved by the events behind him. The humans had won this battle, but he was confident Peacekeepers would triumph over them at some point. While their ship was formidable, Scorpius doubted they could have more than a handful of those. Not judging from Crichton memories of Earth being defenseless just years before. The Peacekeeper fleet would be enough to combat the threat. And when the High Command acquired the weapons currently in Earth's possession, the long brewing conflict with the Scarrans would flare again. But only for a short while…

Scorpius smiled looking at his small forces, a plan already forming in his head…

* * *

**Author's Note: **If you are wondering why the Deadalus won the encounter, check the Review page for a partial explanation.


	12. In case you succeed

**Author's Note:** I know it has been a long time since the last update, but I simply had too much on my head and the Muse shut down for a while. Does it work now? Sometimes. I have another story in the making, that one is 1/3rd ready (12k words out of planned 30k) and I have rather more ideas for that one, than for this (and I wont publish that one until it is completed). But even so, don't worry, I intend to finish this, first wrapping the current plot line, then doing the other, planned ones. How long it will take? I simply don't know...

Once again, this was beta'ed by Celina. Thanks!

* * *

_chapter 12: In case you succeed._

** Unknown location**

The sound of the alarm was deafening. Still, under the noise Crichton could hear someone shouting:

"Warp core breach!"

He didn't know what to do. He was totally lost, looking around at people he did not know, at machinery he did not understand. The white walls and red, pulsing lights were a bizarre scenery that encompassed the chaos surrounding him. People were running everywhere. It was insane, simply insane... He had no doubts now that someone was playing with his head... He wanted to scream...

... and woke up in his quarters aboard Moya. It was just a nightmare, the same one he had ever since they met the strange vessel claiming to be from Earth. He could not believe it was real. If all the facts he could verify told him it was only a few years in the future, he could not disagree with them and believe it was really an Earth ship of the far future. Only one explanation remained, the one troubling him in his sleep constantly now – this had to be yet another mind game, played on John by who knows whom. And that meant he had to find a way out. Once again...

He got out of his bed and after a short morning routine (he especially missed his toothbrush) went out to look for the rest of the crew. As always, he found them by sound of their voices (the only internal sound on the ships with almost no machinery, the DRDs were just too quiet to count). And as always, they were arguing about something.

"I say we check for it ourselves" he heard Rygel forcing his point of view.

"I am with the Hynerian" said Aeryn. John stopped in the corridor. It was not often that the woman agreed with Sparky. He decided it would be best to listen for now, not disturb their discussion with an entry. In the room, Aeryn was making her point: "They were not hostile like almost any other vessel we ever encountered. I am not sure if they are from John's Earth or if it is just a translation problem, but we have to take a chance..."

"That's where I see the problem," D'Argo broke in. John was not sure now if he liked the topic of the discussion. If this was a mind game... "We would be taking a chance against an unknown. Even if it were Crichton's people, we already know they can be either hostile or idiots or..."

"But we are running out of choices. The food stocks are running low, Scorpius is still following, we have no other alternative really. We have to actively seek them out..."

This was enough for John. He decided to step in and break the absurd conversation. This was a mind game and there was no point in playing along with it... once again.

** M70-AM3, Deadalus**

As the Asgard beam finally crushed the structure of the giant ship, its strange shield failed, allowing Deadalus nukes to finish destroying the vessel. A few fighters that it launched earlier, now circled back at the BC-304 and then came around once again in an aggressive formation. The Deadalus' 302s flew against them... only to be brushed aside in a single fly-by. The enemy fighters were faster, better armored, more maneuverable, had better weapons and better tactics. Human pilots had to be beamed back to Deadalus as it left for hyperspace... leaving behind the giant enemy ship, enemy fighters with no place to go back to and a handful of F-302 wrecks.

Once his ship left the area, Steven Caldwell barked out a set of orders and left for the long range communications array. The ship-wide communications appeared to be down, as well as the subspace comm at the bridge, and all of it just fried shortly after the enemy carrier (or was it?) was destroyed. Caldwell just hoped that the long range array was still on-line and he would be able to contact Woolsey on how to proceed. While he had a lot of discretion as a military commander of the Deadalus, he didn't want to put his foot into a situation he did not fully grasp, like for example that nut Ellis. He had had his dosage of nuclear warfare for the day.

** Knox family residence, Los Angeles, Earth**

Douglas Knox was sitting on a couch in his living room, with a non-disclosure agreement on the table in front of him and two people demanding that he sign it on the other side of the table. He looked up and eyed first the man, then the woman.

"All right, just one question before I sign it," he said and turned back to the man. "Were you right, Doctor?" he asked. "About the pyramids being landing sites for alien space ships?"

The man coughed and looked at the woman. She was looking back at him. Their expressions were grim, but he could see they had to get him onboard. Something important was going on and he was needed... In a top secret military project... Probably operating from Colorado Springs...

And then both Colonel Samantha Carter and Doctor Daniel Jackson looked back at DK and simultaneously said:

"Yes."

And Douglas Knox signed the form.

** Atlantis**

Woolsey arrived at the communication console in time to hear the end of some conversation. Probably the very one he was sent to inquire about. He was too far out to hear the actual words, but from the tone of voices he guessed it was nothing pressing. Not another crisis, just something more routing, like say a case of malnutrition. Or...

"Mr. Woolsey?" he was brought out of his thoughts by the man sitting at the communications desk.

"Yes, well..." Woolsey was somewhat flustered after failing to start the conversation himself. "I mean, what is the situation on the Deadalus? Nothing serious, I would presume?"

"It appears that Colonel Caldwell had made a double contact," the man - what was his name again? – replied. "First with the organic vessel, then with the pursuing..." he paused to look down on the notes he appeared to have made earlier "Peacekeeper Command Carrier. The first encounter was only a visual one, while Deadalus did send out a hailing message. It may or may not have been received, as the vessel left while the other one was getting near."

"The second ship engaged the Deadalus unprovoked while Colonel Caldwell was speaking with their..." he looked down on his notes again, and Woolsey was finally able to remember his name, Neufromm, the German scientist from a family of accountants. Woolsey made a mental note to learn the new people on Atlantis as soon as possible before the man finally found what he was looking for. "Uhm ...their Scorpius. The enemy ship fired its main batteries and launched fighters. While Deadalus was victorious and generally unscathed, some 302s were lost in the battle and the other vessel was destroyed. As for the details..."

"No need, Mr. Neufromm," Woolsey interrupted him. The details would be important later, but he knew what was on Caldwell's mind right now – whether he should proceed or return to Atlantis with his ship. Woolsey was mostly sure that there was no danger from the organic vessel – after all it was fleeing from the other one, so it probably was less powerful... and Deadalus did already destroy the pursuer. Still...

"Please tell Colonel Caldwell to return to Atlantis," he decided. "Then contact Colonel Ellis with the same orders. We will go forward with another option."

** Some time ago, somewhere**** in Peacekeeper Space**

In the darkness of interplanetary space a flotilla of ships so blue, so violet, that most species would consider them black or even invisible, uncloaked and continued on their heading towards the inner planets. Down there (gravitationally speaking) a battle raged between two other powerful fleets. Two other powerful races. Two opponents locked in devastating war for the last few cycles. Two species now devastated enough for the Nebari to challenge them and finally claim total dominance in all known space.

** Unknown planet****, en route to the Ring of the Ancestors**

As Crichton was making his way through the forest alongside Aeryn and D'Argo, he was somewhat reminded of that first alien planet he visited three years ago, just after arriving in Peacekeeper Territory through the wormhole. There, they were trying to tie down local military and lead them away from the landed Leviathan. Here, they were going to spy on, and possibly contact, the unknown military that someone mindfrelled into him to be Earth based. But the plot was obvious this time, there was no way he could have fallen for it. And yet someone had tried. Godlike aliens again? He really hated those, he would rather have alien critter than godline alien, any day, every day. Even if the alien critter happened to be Xenomorph itself. Godlike aliens were just... bad.

They had landed in this planet's main settlement – nothing more than a large village, technologically medieval at best – to gather some intelligence on the... the... turtle-ship guys, or whatever – he just would not call them humans, Earth humans at that. Not with spaceships. Especially not with starburst capable spaceships. Planetside D'Argo learned that A, local populace was scarred of non-sabacean aliens, and B, turtle-ship guys were apparently checking in on Ancestral Rings on several planets, looking for them. Which after a quick discussion lead to this little trek through the woods.

And now Aeryn was giving him signs to remain quiet. That probably meant they were getting close to the wormhole device (and he should really think of a cool name for it, like Wormhole Extreme, or something) and she had heard someone ahead. That superior Sabacean hearing once again... or maybe just superior military training.

They slowed down in order to make less noise. In fact, he was the only one making any noise, even if D'Argo was larger than both him and Aeryn. He could hear the voices himself now, not individual words maybe, but the sound of them. And they sounded... familiar. Not like translation microbes made people sound familiar but... naturally familiar. He moved closer, holding onto a tree and peering down at two guys in military (almost Peacekeeper) uniforms standing near the Ring and chatting.

"So I'm sitting there with Jim, eating this nasty dog... and the fucking Reds just go on offense right the... what was that?" the man stopped and raised his rifle as he heard Crichtons nervous shuffling. It was quite disturbing after all. The first real swear word he heard in God knows how many years. And thus the shuffling. And the falling down from behind the tree and revealing himself to the soldiers in the clearing.

"Who..." the man – human? – started, pointing the gun at him. Then he lowered it, slightly. "Colonel Mitchell? Sir?"

Crichton just looked at him goofily. His head was killing him from the bump. "Huh?"


	13. This is your playground

**Author's Note:** Once again thanks to Celina for correcting any grammar and spelling mistakes.

* * *

_chapter 13: This is your playground._

** MX1-901**

"Colonel Mitchell? Sir?" Sergeant Raynor asked the man stumbling from the forest. He had seen the current leader of SG-1 only a few times, and briefly at that, and was not entirely sure. Still, the man was quite distinct in appearance, so...

"Huh?" the man asked. Apparently this was not Colonel Mitchell after all, or if it was, he had suffered some kind of memory loss – not really that uncommon in this line of work. He appeared to be dressed in something uniform-like, but made of red and black leather. Something the Lucian Alliance would wear. Raynor knew that the Colonel had some dealings with that organization, having to go undercover on more than one occasion. Still, suspicions remained.

"Please identify yourself," he decided to ask the man after looking briefly at his own teammate. Corporal Miller was busy scanning the surrounding area, probably certain that Raynor would be able to handle the single man. A single man with a funny looking gun, Sam Raynor corrected himself.

"Who...?" the unknown (or was he?) man started and stumbled at his words, visibly checking out both members of the Atlantis Expedition, then looking back at the forest. He sure was not alone here. After a pause, with Sam still almost pointing the gun at him, he finally answered the challenge: "I'm Commander John Crichton..." he paused once again, expecting some reaction. When he got none, after a few seconds he started once again: "I am... was... in NASA. What... what year is it?"

Sergeant Raynor was not entirely sure how to respond to that, but he did lower his gun a little bit more. If it was Colonel Mitchell, he at least knew he was from Earth, even if he was delusional. And if this was someone else, the story (right, story, I'm from NASA, great story indeed, Sam thought) did not appear to have a hostile underpinning. It was lame enough to be true, even if incredible. And despite the visible expectation on the guy's part he did not know any Crichton.

"It's 2009" he finally answered the question. "What are you doing in this galaxy... sir?" he added a question of his own, looking behind the mysterious guy at the forest. Quickly he added: "And would you please tell your colleagues to show themselves? This is quite disturbing, you know."

"Huh?" the guy – Crichton? – was not sure how to answer for a while. "Aeryn, D'Argo, come out!" he yelled back into the forest. "I don't think they are hostile."

The forest stirred at two points, to Sam's right and left, but he did not raise his weapon, gesturing to Miller to lower his. He glanced to both sides to the approaching... well, people. One was a woman, dressed in the same leather outfit (if more black) as Crichton. The other was some kind of alien, with tentacles on his head and a large sword in his hand. As they approached their colleague, the guy answered Raynor's previous question: "As for how I got here... it is quite a long story. You wouldn't believe me, but it involved a lot of wormhole travel."

"Oh, I definitely believe that," Raynor chuckled. After all he traveled through the Stargate at least few times a week, sometimes more if things were really hectic in Atlantis. "Well then, welcome to Pegasus, Mr. Crichton."

** Unknown planet**

Crichton had to concede that he was taking a lot on faith here, but he had been on his own for so long and even that brief visit to Earth, 1986, did not make those feelings go away. He wanted to go home, even if it was the future Earth and here, for the first time, he hoped it was no mind game. That it was real. Never before did the translation microbes or even the previous mindfrells do anything proper with swear words and he even started using the altered standard. And now... Now he hoped it was true... That it was...

"Pegasus? As in Pegasus Dwarf Galaxy? Local Group? Then what are you doing here? I mean, you said it was 2009? Which would mean only ten years since the accident. What are you... we... humans doing here?"

The military man looked at Crichton with a strange smirk. "It involved a lot of wormhole travel, you know," his partner – subordinate, maybe – laughed out loud at that. "I understand the name Mitchell does not mean anything to you, Mr. Crichton?" he asked and John had only time to gesture no, before the still unnamed human continued: "And yet you look remarkably like him. You don't recall any situation of waking up in an unknown location with severe memory loss?"

"A lot of them. Why...?" Crichton started asking his own question, then thought better of it. "Oh, wait, right. So you assume I'm him, having lost his memory? I am quite sure I am me... I mean, John Crichton... Astronaut... Lost in space in 1999. Then I met them," he gestured at Aeryn and D'Argo, who now stood nearby, listening to the conversation and visibly not pointing their weapons at the guy... The guys... "That is Aeryn Soon, former Peacekeeper officer, and Ka D'Argo, former Luxan general. And you are?"

"Sergeant Raynor and Corporal Miller, US Marine Corps, Atlantis Expedition," the man, the Sergeant answered, a bit tense. "Former Peacekeeper you say?" he turned to Aeryn at John's nod. "And not continuing their practices I hope?"

"No, I am... I was cast out. I don't follow the High Command anymore," the Sebeacan spoke for the first time.

"Good, great. In that case," Raynor lowered his weapon fully and extended his hand to her. "You're welcome to visit. You too, guys, of course," he turned to shake their hands as well, receiving a strange look from the Luxan.

"Visit where?" John asked and once again felt stupid for not thinking ahead. "Wait, Atlantis? The lost city of Atlantis?"

"Well, Mr. Crichton, nobody ever said that it was an Earth city, now did they?"

** Atlantis Gate Room**

After a moment of hesitation Aeryn stepped through the wormhole... and stumbled into a large, bright room with military personnel – Earth military personnel – distinctly not pointing their guns at her... Again. It was somewhat disturbing after years of knowing John Crichton, the knowledge that humans were not always incompetent and crazy and could be even considered professional. And these people definitely were professional, professional military at that.

She looked around at people milling around the high sidewalks and balconies, at armed rifles not pointed her way (they were more paranoid than Peacekeepers with that), at open windows and bright lights, finally at the Stargate (the name did not fit her image of it) at John emerging from it along with that Raynor guy.

"So that device allows you to basically dial any planet with a Stargate of its own," he was talking animatedly now. "So what is the seventh symbol for?"

"Point of origin, the planet we dial from," the Sergeant answered. "Actually, as we are already here, you could ask Doctor McKay about the details..."

"Rodney McKay? Here? Oh, hell, why didn't I..." he interrupted the explanation, but then paused himself as he took in the room they were in. Evidently he also did not expect this.

And Aeryn, Aeryn was not sure what to expect now. Not anymore. Not after the revelations of the last hour. At least D'Argo was not here to see this, this would be an even greater shock to the Luxan. Maybe these guys were just humans... But they were also the guys that in just 10 years moved from Crichtons little flying shipwreck to a full colony in another galaxy. Not something the Luxans, or for that matter Peacekeepers were capable of in thousands of years of recorded history. And now apparently Crichton knew one of the scientists on this... base. Which meant exactly what?

** Atlantis Gate Room**

John Crichton looked around at a human outpost in an alien city in a faraway galaxy, only ten years after he was exploring the effect of gravitational slingshot in Earth's orbit, and shuddered. I should have chosen that offer from the Air Force after all, he thought to himself. On the other hand, he would not had met Aeryn or the rest of Moya's crew. Who knew if he would be in Pegasus now and not sitting behind some desk. This was, by the account of two American soldiers, the mythical Atlantis, the city flooded by the waves ten thousand years ago. From what they said it really was underwater, just not flooded, but submerged and shielded, waiting for the return of its creators from Earth. Instead it was humans who returned. His people...

"Welcome to Atlantis," a small bald man said, having approached them while John was still looking around and thinking. "My name is Richard Woolsey and I am the leader of this expedition. Now, I understand there has been some confusion regarding your identity, Mr..." he trailed off, prompting for a name.

"Crichton. John Crichton," he answered. "You all seem to have mistaken me with that Mitchell character, but I can assure you, I am not him. In fact I heard that Rodney McKay is somewhere around here, we knew each other back when... Could you just get him here?"

The small man, Woolsey, looked at him for a second, then raised a hand to a small radio on his ear: "Doctor McKay, please report to my office." He looked back at John and said: "If you would just follow me, I am sure we can wait for the Doctor at a more... comfortable location."

He turned back and started walking. Having no other choice, but standing there looking around, John glanced at Aeryn and started following. That was... strange. But if they were still expecting him to be Mitchell, he could relate. He had also taken much on a leap of faith here. He wanted to trust them, he wanted it all to be over.

They followed Woolsey up some stairs, near a window overlooking a futuristic city by the sea – the rest of Atlantis, probably – through some balconies and into a quite Earth-like office. Complete with a wooden desk, leather chair and a photo of a small dog on the desk. John glanced at Woolsey, yeah, definitely a dog guy, not a family guy.

"Please, be seated," the dog guy in question said to them. "I am certain that Doctor McKay will be here shortly. As far as I know he had nothing important scheduled for today."

** Atlantis, Richard Woolsey's office**

Rodney entered the room in a really bad mood, he had been recalled from an important experiment, a result of a latest query through the Ancient database. If he was correct, a new series of alloys could be manufactured with Earth-based technology, but with properties much exceeding anything with no trinium added. And now he had to pause his simulation and...

"All right, I'm here. What is..." he stopped, spotting two additional figures in the room. "Colonel Mitchell, Vala Mal Doran? What...?"

"In fact," Woolsey interrupted him, "those two claim they're not called that..."

"A memory alteration, I understand," this time it was McKay, who interrupted. "I think we still have that machine for memory restoration connected and configured. And if not we could always get one back from the SGC. What I do not understand is why you called me here if anyone could have done that."

The guy that looked like Mitchell but evidently did not remember being him chuckled and said: "If you could have let Mr. Woolsey there finish, Rod, you would have heard what are you here for... Say, do you remember the Farscape project?"

"Farscape? You mean... gravitational slingshot?" he looked at the man once again. "Crichton!" he exclaimed finally, recognizing him. "But that would mean... The wing configuration... With a proper energy source... Wasn't there a solar flare...?" he started talking to himself, with everybody in room looking at him strangely. "You created a prototype for the Wormhole Drive!" he exclaimed once again, startling everybody. "Now, come with me, now. Up! Up!"

Everybody looked at him strangely... Again.


	14. Never gonna get paid

**Author's Note:** Once again Celina beta-read this chapter, great thanks to her.

* * *

_chapter 14: Never gonna get paid._

**Earth's orbit**

"So…" Douglas started looking at Earth's southern hemisphere through the giant window of an apparently American spaceship "why me? Why did you recruit me for, aside for the snooping?"

"Snooping?" Doctor Jackson looked at him confused.

"Yeah, snooping. Through the logistics systems, personnel files… You know, it is all out there, you just have to connect all the dots and jump to a proper conclusion. And I already had all the dots when you knocked on my doors."

"We did not know about that." this time it was Doctor… or rather Colonel Carter, who spoke. "And anyway it would not be reason enough for us to disclose everything. Someone would rather make you jump to a wrong conclusion… So, why did we contact you?" she paused, visibly gathering her thoughts. "Let's start slowly. This ship is hyperspeed capable; we could travel to nearby galaxies in just a few weeks. It is slow," he could hear the emphasis in her words.

"That's not exactly my idea of slow," DK laughed, interrupting her.

"Compared to the Stargate, it is," she stated firmly. Douglas stopped laughing. They had already explained to him about the wormhole devices before beaming him aboard. Beaming. Aboard. Hell yeah!

"With a special power source this ship is capable of travelling there in days," she continued. "We have a few of those power sources, but are unable to manufacture more, so we don't use them for such trivial tasks. A friendly alien race was able to make the trip in hours, but they are… not there anymore…"

"So you want faster engines. I understand that. But I don't know anything about hyperspace. I did not work in quantum physics, you know," DK said to her, not seeing the point of recruiting him if that was the case.

"That is still not the end of the story," Carter chuckled. "Another alien race we know of was capable of building intergalactic Stargates large enough for ships to pass through. As far as we know they did not even live in the Virgo Supercluster, and yet they were able to travel here instantaneously. That is as fast as you could go…"

"But not ideal," added Doctor Jackson.

"No, not ideal. You still need infrastructure for that. A Supergate, as we call it, at the far end. It is not an easy task to get one to the target galaxy, let me tell you," she laughed at, he guessed, some old memory. "We came across an equally fast solution a few months ago, what we call a Wormhole Drive… With enough energy provided it is capable of creating a directed wormhole without the need for any infrastructure at the other end. Just like that… and you are on the other side of the known universe. And that's what we need your help for, Doctor Knox."

"Me? Wormholes?" DK was not sure he followed that. "I do know even less about wormholes than about hyperspace. You must have me mistaken with someone else…"

"You may not realize it, Doctor Knox, but you already build a Wormhole Drive. All it lacked was an energy source, but it was perfectly capable of utilizing external power, say a solar flare…"

"What are you talking about?" now DK was really confused.

"Let me tell you another story then" said Doctor Jackson. "A few days ago one of our ships was on an exploration mission to the far side of the galaxy. It appears there is a dwarf galaxy located there, behind some kind of barrier of exotic energy. Oddysey was not able to get to the other side… but it picked up a transmission. On an open radio channel. An old recording travelling through space at the speed of light…" he paused for effect. "It was made by your colleague, Doctor Crichton."

"Crichton? John Crichton? But that would mean… the Farscape project, it did not end with a catastrophe…"

"We analyzed the readings from that day," stated Colonel Carter. "A wormhole was opened in Earth's orbit, destination unknown. The Farscape module… created the wormhole when a solar flare provided enough energy for the Wormhole Drive to engage. You helped build the prototype for the thing we are trying to replicate now. That's why we want you to work with us."

"Yes, sure, certainly," DK was still analyzing the facts. "Wait, you said there was a recording? May I hear it?"

"Just follow me," Doctor Jackson said, standing up. Douglas Knox followed him, still slightly stunned by the revelations of the day. What next? Alien parasites?

**Atlantis**

Crichton looked around the lab, baffled. He recognized the computers, mostly. Those looked more advanced that he knew, but such was Moore's law. They would have to be, even if he did not travel to the future. The rest of the lab, that was what baffled him. He did not recognize most of the stuff lying on the tables. Hell, it was hard to recognize some of the furniture as tables at all. For example that one that looked like a cross between an operating bed and… a piano? Or a computer terminal. Rodney's babbling certainly did not help him grasp the situation.

"Rod, really, what's the rush? It's just science, it can wait a bit," he finally interrupted him.

"Just science? How can you even…" McKay started, then paused, then started again: "They just started this project back on Earth, if I can get ahead of them it would be…"

"Wait," Crichton interrupted him again. "Earth you say?"

"Yes, Earth, they recovered this old message in space that meant that the Farscape project… Oh… Oh! Crap, I should have told you earlier. The message you put into space was recovered a few days ago. SGC determined that your prototype created an independent wormhole so they started pulling people from the project to build a second…"

"Wait!" John had to interrupt him once more. "A few days ago? You mean it is possible to get to Earth in just a few days?"

"What? No, if it's necessary you can get there at will through the Stargate. We usually wait a day in quarantine at the Midway station through."

"Midway? As in...?" he trailed off.

"Halfway between Milky Way and Pegasus galaxy. Over a million light years to the nearest star. The best view around."

"You know what, Rod? I'll maybe help with the research… back on Earth. Have fun with the toys," and he left back to Woolsey's office. Hopefully I won't get lost here, he thought.

**Atlantis, Woolsey's office**

"So, Miss Sun…" he started, looking at the woman in front of him. A woman remarkably similar to one Val Mal Doran, a former space thief and a current member of SG-1 back on Earth. "These Peacekeepers following you, I gather you are quite intimately familiar with them?"

"You may just say so," she answered. Was that a bit of sadness in her voice? "I have been declared rogue by an irritated Commander just after meeting John. Once the man was relieved of command, it was too late to come back. Not after meeting Scorpius."

"So it is a personal thing then?"

"Yes. No." She was not sure herself after all this time. "He's following John because of the wormhole research Scorpius had been conducting. Then it became personal for a while. After Crais destroyed his previous Carrier, I just don't know. But he has been following us all this time."

"Then you may be interested to hear," Woolsey said with a certain smugness "that he is no more. Alive, that is. The Deadalus was forced to destroy his ship after he opened fire without provocation."

"How?" the woman was visibly shocked. "You mean?... Your little ship… destroyed a fully operational Command Carrier?"

Woolsey looked at her curiously, she really was shocked. He gathered the Peacekeepers were thought as the most powerful force around; anyway they were back where she came from.

"Yes," he confirmed hoping it would calm her. "I can arrange for the recording later, if you will be still interested."

"A Command Carrier…" she started muttering silently, "Destroyed… But we are here… And he knows them… He was right, the module is junk…"

"Am I interrupting something?" a sudden voice interrupted the scene. Woolsey looked up to see John Sheppard standing in the doors. Just what he was missing to make this day complete…

**Atlantis, Woolsey's office**

John Sheppard looked at the woman seating in the room, she reminded him of someone he should know, he thought…

"Ah, Colonel, please come in," the current expedition leader greeted him. "Before you head that way, this is in fact not Vala Mal Doran, but… Officer Aeryn Sun, formerly of the Peacekeeper military…"

"No, you don't understand," the woman, officer Sun, interrupted him. "All that peacekeepers are is the military. There are no civilians. Well, there are civilian Sabacean's, but they are never affiliated with the High Council. The Peacekeeper High Council."

"Do you mean...?" Woolsey asked incredulously.

"If that's what you mean, then yes. We are born on our ships and the children are taught to be soldiers… or technicians… but all the positions are military. Are that the Peacekeepers are is the military."

"As fascinating as it sounds," John decided to add something of his own, "isn't it a bit boring?"

"I never thought so… not before I met John."

"Huh?" Sheppard was speechless, what the hell did she mean by that.

"Oh, I see you misunderstood our guest," Richard Woolsey said. "She arrived here with a man. John Crichton. From Earth. Apparently Dr McKay knows him."

"Seriously? Is this like another Rod situation?"

**Moya, in orbit of MX1-901**

Once D'Argo landed and left his ship, he was approached by the rest of Moya's crew, obviously interested after the brief communication he sent ahead.

"I see you have finally got rid of the Peacekeeper and the annoying Erpman," the Hynerian was first to speak, as usual.

"I wouldn't be so brash to say that anymore, Rygel," D'Argo simply stated. "We may have finally found a solution to most of our problems. And as surprising as it sounds, it's more Erp-people."

"What?" this time Rygel was joined by equally surprised Chiana. The others were probably just as shocked, they just weren't as prone to show it.

"The message we heard from that ship, it really was from Erp. We met some of them on the planet. Crichton was right about that frelling Ring device – it is a transportation device. They all went to the local Erp base. I hope we hear from them soon…"

**Atlantis, Woolsey's office**

"You can actually open wormhole to Earth from here?" John Crichton burst into the room, shouting the question from the door. "Is it true?"

"Well, not directly if it's not an emergency, but we certainly can get there inside a day," the bald guy, Woolsey or something, answered him. "Why do you ask?"

"Why? Why? I have been lost in space for the last three and a half year and you ask me why? And it's been longer for you, I don't even know if my dad is still alive, it's been like ten years for him. I have to get there…"

"Mister Crichton," the bald guy tried to be reasonable – and John definitely didn't want him to be reasonable, he wanted him to act. "I realize your situation, trust me. We have had some experienced with time travel in the past," the military guy that John only now realized was also in the room chuckled at that. "We have already prepared a communications about you for the Homeworld Security. It will be sent there during our next scheduled connection. Which will be…" he paused to look at his watch "…in just about two hours. Once they respond, and I think they will agree to you going to Earth, it will only be a matter of one-day quarantine on the Midway station, before proceeding further. And in the meantime I am sure they will arrange for your father to be briefed on the program. He is an astronaut as I recall?"

"Yeah, yes, he is… was."

"Then there is nothing else you can do but wait, Mister Crichton," the guy actually beamed at him in a typical bureaucratic manner, something he recalled from Earth. Hell, this was after all someone from Earth, a bureaucrat from Earth if he gauged him right. "In two or three days you could as well meet your father. On Earth."


	15. Could have done better?

**Author's Note:** Once more I'd like to credit Celina for beta-reading this chapter, as well as for some additional suggestions how to make it better.

I lowered the rating of this story from M(ature) to T(een). If you think it is too low - let me know.

* * *

_chapter 15: Could have done better?_

**Unknown location**

He looked around, considering the cold stone walls he saw all around. This did not really bode well. A lone corridor stretched before him and, with no other choice, he went forward. And forward. And forward. Only the rare flaming torches giving light as he went… Forward.

Finally it started getting lighter and warmer, the never-ending corridor giving place to a room full of torches and candles, a lone coffin in its middle. _Crap_, John Crichton simply thought.

The coffin's lid slowly moved to the side, revealing Scorpius in a suit. Very Bela Lugosi. Then the vampire opened his eyes.

"Harvey!" John exclaimed, "You're not dead."

"Of course not," the neural clone answered with a fake accent, "I'm the – _undead_."

John just looked at him, raising his eyebrow.

"Seriously, this is how you try making your return? It's over pal, live with it," he smiled.

"We both well know," Harvey answered, slowly rising, as if pulled by a winch, "it will never be over. Look around you," he said, turning with his hands raised. The scenery changed to an urban decay street, possibly an Earth one. "First of all, your world is not aware of all this we are now experiencing. They do not even have the resources of a whole planet, while the Peacekeepers control a large part of a galaxy. Two, do you really think I am dead? I always had a way out and even now a part of you is afraid that I am somewhere out there, plotting against you."

The scenery changed once again, this time to one of Moya's hangars, where Farscape One stood and waited for its pilot. He suddenly realized that…

"Three, even your people seek the wormhole technology. You will be always stuck with it. Always," the clone warned him. "And four, I am really looking forward to more chocolate and bananas. They're what make the invisible rabbits tick after all."

And then John Crichton woke up from his daydream…

**Pilot's den, ****Moya, in orbit of MX1-901**

"Pilot?" a familiar voice sounded over the communications relay.

"Officer Sun, it is good to hear you again," the Pilot responded, already tracking the source of the signal to the location of the planet's wormhole device. A small craft has just launched from that location…

"We are heading your way in a small transport. You should be able to track us."

"Yes, Officer Sun, I am already aware of your trajectory. You will reach Moya in approximately three hundred microts," he said, already preparing the landing bay and keeping the sensors on the approaching craft. It appeared to be a transport, as stated, although the energy readings seemed to indicate it had some offensive capability. And, if he was correct, a cloaking field, as some scans were consistent with a previous encounter with an undetectable vessel. "Should I notify the others of your return?"

"Yes, Pilot. We are bringing some supplies for them. Also, an Earth ship will soon arrive at this location."

"Am I correct to assume it will Starburst here, Officer Sun?"

"Yes, Pilot. That is the method of transportation the humans seem to posses."

"Then Moya and I are looking forward to scanning their drives," he stated. "Two hundred and fifty microts until arrival. I will now notify the others."

**Hangar, ****Moya, in orbit of MX1-901**

The backdoor of the small transport ship, supposedly called a Puddlejumper of all things, opened and John was the first to step down into Moya's hangar. Once he saw his shipmates, he turned back to the people he arrived with and said:

"Welcome to USS Buttcrack, the only Federation starship with its crew starving six days a week, every week."

"That certainly explains why we're loaded to the roof with food," the other John on the Jumper cracked.

"Oh, that will only last for a week or so. There is His Majesty to consider after all," he pointed to the Hynerian, who was already quivering in anticipation after the mention of food. "Anyway I think introductions are in order."

Meanwhile the soldiers and Aeryn had already left the confines of the small ship and Crichton realized that they were standing awkwardly on his left… while the crew of Moya was standing awkwardly on his right. _All right, this looks like some sports event is about to start,_ he thought.

"I already mentioned His Majesty, Dominar Rygel the Sixteenth, an obnoxious space frog that only desires food. So this is him, in all his sliminess," he pointed at Rygel once again.

"Then on my right is the one and only John Sheppard, the man with the longest golf swing in this galaxy," he mentioned to the member of Atlantis team.

"Actually I am now in contest with General O'Neill about longest golf swing ever. I do not think the swings during the time loop qualify," the man in question said. John looked at him to check how much of this was bull – which the guy was full of. As he appeared quite truthful, Crichton decided that meeting the general would be… interesting, if he only could arrange it.

"All right, proceeding further…" he continued with the introductions, turning back to the Moya crew. _At least I know these people,_he though, _how the hell will I introduce guys like mister no-entity standard grunt there._He wished Rod would have come with them.

**Midway station**

John stepped through the Stargate and after the rollercoaster ride he'd already learned it would be, he arrived at his destination. Supposedly a human build space station halfway between two galaxies. Halfway back home. It was… not really what he expected. The Deadalus did not look all that modern, but the ship was in service for about five years already. The station was supposedly just rebuilt after some kind of accident. And it looked… normal.

A large open space, like a factory hall, stretched before him, with another Stargate on the opposite wall. There were some boxes lying around on the metal floor and a window to some other room high above. It looked very factory-like. Very warehouse-like even. In fact it looked like…

"It is not a fully operational battle station then?" he tried.

"No, it's more like a fully operational loading dock, really," Major Lorne, a military guy from Atlantis, who arrived with him, responded.

"So where are the ugly fat guys with their trucks?"

"All right, Mister Crichton, was that supposed to be funny? Or should I ask Doctor Lee where his Mack is?" the guy did get slightly irritated at John's comments.

"Yeah, it was supposed to be funny. And for a while there you seem to have thought it so. What changed?"

"We have already lost many good men when the Wraith boarded the station. There is no need to dismiss the place… so much," he chuckled. "It still is a glorified loading dock, though."

This time it was John who did the 'funnily looked at' routine. Along with Harvey, who apparently was now back and enjoying himself from the backseat of his mind; a vampire craving chocolate and bananas, seriously, could his subconscious be any more lame?

Meanwhile a fat guy wearing a SGC scientist uniform – from the earlier comment John assumed him to be Doctor Lee – approached them and extended his hand in Crichton's direction.

"I am pleased to meet you Doctor Crichton," he said, John mentally cringed at the title, not having heard it with his name in years. "I have just been brushing up on your work on the Farscape project. Fascinating how close it is to our current research, the base trajectory calculations to begin with are…"

"Thank you," Crichton stopped him, before the man veered too much into the scientific interest of the galaxy, he really hoped to get some time free of wormholes. "You must be the Doctor Lee I heard about from Major Lorne. He seems to be a real enthusiast of your work."

"Really?" the scientist beamed. Lorne simply groaned.

**Control Room, ****Midway Station**

The inner ring of the second Stargate started spinning. It definitely looked different than the Pegasus gates he had seen to date. It was more primitive, he decided, more analog of all things. Then the first of the outlying chevrons locked and John observed that even the color of the lighting differed here. For a while he wondered if the wormhole would have a different color as well. He would see it in a few seconds anyway.

"Not exactly as I recall the Ancients setting up their wormholes," he observed to Doctor Lee.

"So you've already been briefed on the Alterans, then?" the scientist answered from the dialing computer.

"Huh? No, I mean the bug people, the guys with the wormhole tech and weapons and…" Lee was looking at him uncomprehending, so he decided to let it go. "You know what, never mind."

The gate had meanwhile locked six of its chevrons and it was rotating into position for the last of them. John concentrated on the ring, it was his way home after all. Finally, after all these years, a way to Earth. Back through the looking glass. Or a wormhole anyway.

The last chevron locked and the gate engaged with the inverse toilet drain effect, a kawoosh he heard it was called. Well, it did appear to differ from the Pegasus gates, the event horizon of the wormhole being of a slightly different shade, more blue than green maybe. And of course it differed greatly from the free wormholes he was so far more familiar with. It was a surface, not a tunnel, to begin with. He guessed that it came from the ring translating the traveling objects into a datastream, so the energy requirements were lower. It could also…

"So you've decided to stay at the bus station then?" he heard a voice from behind. Once he turned he saw Lorne smirking at him. Right. No jokes with this guy. He picked up his bag and turned back to Lee.

"Well then, good doctor, seems like this is it for us. See you around some time." And with a curt nod he left the room in the direction of the gate. Behind him, Doctor Lee was still thinking about his earlier comments. And Evan Lorne was smirking, as the reflection in the glass certified. John Crichton smirked himself, Earth, here I come.

**Stargate Command**

Like the wormhole to the Midway Station, this transfer also took a longer while. As Lee explained it, it had to do with storing the data in Stargate buffers along the way and redialing until Earth was reached. The other approach, connecting directly, was supposedly too costly and was used only in case of emergencies…

John Crichton stopped his musings and looked around at the large room he was now in, the wormhole directly behind him. It was not that different from some Peacekeeper locations he visited in outer space, but that had more to do with military design and not the people running the show. Those were all wearing clothes that screamed Earth to him, even the soldiers now pointing guns at him. He stood on a ramp leading down from the Stargate to yet another loading area, only more primitive in design than the station.

He looked up at the windows overlooking the room, with some kind of command center apparent behind them. And people looking down. People looking surprisingly like…

"Dad? DK?" he just murmured. And lost consciousness.


End file.
